Phil Gingrey: “the men and women of our Nation's fire services are among the very first responders to an extraordinary wide range of…”

“the men and women of our Nation's fire services are among the very first responders to an extraordinary wide range of accidents, injuries, and disasters. And the gentleman from New Jersey, he knows as well as anybody in this body. He was right there. His district's right there, very close to the scene of 9/11. And I think that his amendment is very, very appropriate because this was a fire caused by a terrorist attack. Unlike the Murrah Building attack at Oklahoma City, which was an incidence of domestic violence by our own, if you will, homegrown terrorists, this situation that occurred on 9/11 is the reason why I'm sure the gentleman from New Jersey has brought forth this good amendment. And he is so right to point out that firefighters will also be the first to the scene when many of these catastrophes happen. Hopefully, it won't occur in this country again. We've been blessed. I think there has been a lot of hard work on the part of this Congress and this administration to protect our country on our soil from another terrorist attack. Thank God so far it hasn't happened. But that doesn't mean you don't train for and prepare for it. And those firefighters that went to work that day, they were well trained, but I'm sure they weren't expecting a terrorist attack. And in such an event like that, their first job, of course, always is to heroically save lives.…”