Candice S. Miller: “I rise today to fully support this resolution, which speaks to this Congress, appropriately recognizing and honoring the…”

“I rise today to fully support this resolution, which speaks to this Congress, appropriately recognizing and honoring the brave Americans, the great patriots, who work to protect us all through their service at the Department of Homeland Security. And I believe that the first and foremost responsibility of the Federal Government is to provide for the national defense. That is actually in the preamble of our Constitution. Additionally, for all of us who have the honor to serve in this House, protecting our homeland and securing our borders against those who would harm us is something that we all take an oath to do. Before those horrific attacks on our Nation on 9/11, we thought about national defense more in terms of having a strong military, the best trained, the best resourced, facing down enemies overseas in conflicts where we had a national interest in spots around the world. We didn't usually think in terms of actually being attacked or continuing to be threatened with attacks on American soil here in our homeland. 9/11 changed all of our lives, as on that day cowardly terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 of our fellow Americans, innocent people who were just going about their daily lives. And the terrorists used the tools of our own freedoms against us. And why? Because they hate us, and they especially hate our freedoms. They sought to weaken us, to destroy us, and instead they united us.”