Alcee Hastings: “I can pretty much assure the Speaker that I will not take the whole hour, but the gravity of why I am here allows that…”

“I can pretty much assure the Speaker that I will not take the whole hour, but the gravity of why I am here allows that time is of no moment. Time stood still on September 11 for this country and the world. Indeed, time ended for the countless victims that we know so well now lost their lives and many are still missing. Time stood still for the families of those victims and continues to stand still. When that kind of tragedy occurs, in spite of our hope that we will get back to normal, the reality is that we will be normal; but it will be a different kind of normal, and those persons that were lost, Americans and persons from other parts of the world, will have their memories best served if those of us that have the immense responsibility of assisting in getting to the different normal were to take our time and make sure that we do everything that we possibly can to protect the interests of those victims, their families and the various workers and the industries and entrepreneurs that make this great structure of ours function. Toward that end, last week I filed a bill that I come to the floor to speak about tonight, the Displaced Workers Relief Act, which is H.R. 2946; and in addition thereto, the minority leader and myself filed yet another measure that deals with virtually the same subject, but expands the definition of eligible employees.”