Chris Smith: “Mr. Speaker, most Americans can tell you precisely where they were and what they were doing 3 years ago when the grim…”

“Mr. Speaker, most Americans can tell you precisely where they were and what they were doing 3 years ago when the grim news broke that the terrorists had crashed commercial jet liners into both towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. Sadly, approximately 3,000 innocent people were savagely murdered, including 697 from my own State of New Jersey, with 60 families in my congressional district feeling the pain directly. The extraordinary courage of the victims like Todd Beamer and Captain Chip Burlingame and so many others who sacrificed their lives in an attempt to thwart the terrorists' plots and plans, as well as the first responders who bravely ran into burning buildings, deserve the highest honor and respect a Nation can bestow. Sadly, some 374 first responders died going into skyscrapers as they were engulfed in flames. They died trying to save those who were victimized by the 9/11 attackers.”