Cord Byrd: “I begin my words today by reading from the 33rd verse of the 18th chapter of the Second Book of Samuel, the King James…”

“I begin my words today by reading from the 33rd verse of the 18th chapter of the Second Book of Samuel, the King James version of the Holy Bible. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! Mr. President, tomorrow will be a day of painful remembrance for our Nation. The passage of time has done little to numb the anguish of that September morning 3 years ago--how we do remember--when 19 ruthless terrorists commandeered four commercial aircraft and transformed them into the stuff of nightmares. The memories are still too raw, the images are still to vivid, the toll of human misery is still too overwhelming. And so we remember, and in our remembrance we pay homage to the victims and the heroes of 9/11. But we owe more. We owe more to those who perished on September 11, 2001, than merely remembrance. And we owe more to the American people than merely paying lipservice to their safety. That is the primary reason that we are here today, debating the Homeland Security funding bill.”