Political Quotes

“I rise to applaud a provision in the supplemental portion of the Defense appropriations conference report. This conference report includes a bill authored by myself and Senator Kyl that will help honor the victims of the September 11 attacks. It is called the Unity in the Spirit of America Act, or the USA Act. We all witnessed a great national tragedy 3 months ago. While the deaths and damage occurred in New York, Washington, and in the fields of Pennsylvania, a piece of all of us died that day. Many people came up to me in Michigan after the attacks and asked: What can I do? I have given blood, I have donated to relief efforts, but I want to do more. We all shared in the horror and now everyone wants to share in the healing, but how? Then a constituent of mine, Bob Van Oosterhout, wrote me with an idea: Why not have the Federal Government devise a program that will encourage communities throughout the Nation to create something that will honor the memory of one of the victims lost in the attack, one by one by one. Together these local memorials to honor individuals would dot our Nation and collectively honor all of those who were lost in the attacks. What could be simpler or more moving? From that idea came the Unity in the Spirit of America Act.”