Political Quotes

“First, I offer the thanks of our city to the many Members of the House, particularly the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, who has spoken so eloquently. Many of us just returned this morning and more than a few of my constituents commented how heartening and reassuring it was to see Members come to the well yesterday for hours talking about their expressions of sympathy and support. My colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley), and I late last night visited ground zero and we saw a sight that was at once horrific and frankly heartening. We saw mounds of rubble, maybe the size of this building, that were tombs for some of the bravest New Yorkers and bravest Americans. These were men who perished, many of them my constituents. Over 100 families in just one small part of my district were where firefighters and police officers had lived. At the same time people were furiously running downstairs to escape what was described in the newspapers as 1,000 to 2,000 degree heat, heat sufficient to melt the columns of the World Trade Center, to melt through the insulation on the beams. These firefighters were running up those stairs, as the chairman mentioned. Some of them were seen on the 80th floor. And to give my colleagues an idea of what a firefighter carries on his back and on his person when he goes into battle, it is weight akin to me. It is like carrying a human being all the way up those stairs.”