Robert Torricelli: “in the legislation before the Senate on economic recovery, we are, of course, focused on those who have lost their jobs…”

“in the legislation before the Senate on economic recovery, we are, of course, focused on those who have lost their jobs, those businesses and unions that are in distress, and our various communities. But there are some American families for whom September 11 is not a memory; it is a crisis in their lives that they wake up with every morning. I am speaking about the families of those who perished--the 5,000 husbands and wives and thousands of children for whom September 11 will be a day they will live with for the rest of their lives. Nearly 600 of the dead were from my State of New Jersey. Senator Corzine and I have begun meeting with the husbands and wives of those deceased. It is an experience I wish every Senator could share. It becomes so common to speculate on whether September 11 has changed America forever. I don't know. But I know that when I meet with these widows and widowers, America has forever changed for them. We debate the economic consequences for our country. I want you to consider the economic consequences for them, what the morning was like, not of September 11 but of September 12, when a husband or a wife was gone. It could have been a young family in a new home, with a new baby. Families wanted to mourn, but there wasn't a lot of time because in 2 weeks a mortgage payment was due, in 3 months a tuition payment was due, that weekend there were groceries to buy, and there were no more paychecks.…”