Frank Lautenberg: “I speak today as a Senator from New Jersey, the State that lost 700 of its residents including those who were at work…”

“I speak today as a Senator from New Jersey, the State that lost 700 of its residents including those who were at work that day at the World Trade Center. I remember when President Roosevelt in 1941 pronounced December 7 as the ``day of infamy,'' and once again, we see a moment in time, a moment of infamy, evil beyond comprehension, because the events of this day changed the way people live on this Earth. The Twin Towers were far more than the sum of their steel and concrete parts. The towers that I knew very well were cities, essentially, in the sky. Fifty thousand people worked in those towers, more people than the population of many of our Nation's communities. In many cases, those 50,000 men and women spent as much time in the towers as they did at home, from New York and New Jersey, and from other States throughout the country, from small families and big families, from every walk and stage of life. On that autumn morning 6 years ago, they awoke and began moving to the rhythm of the day, drawn to the Trade Center just as normal, just like the days and the years before. Only this day was different. This day became an epoch moment in the history of man, this day terror would no longer be a thing that would be in distant places, not be a thing of memory or talk. Terror was about to become real. Three thousand people, spouses with no mates, children without a parent, siblings, and treasured friends, gone. They live on only in our memory.…”