Charles Rangel: “on behalf of the New York delegation and the people of New York, I would like to thank the leadership of the House of…”

“on behalf of the New York delegation and the people of New York, I would like to thank the leadership of the House of Representatives and that of the other body for supporting this resolution that would allow a joint session of the House and Senate to take place in the City of New York. Being born and raised in New York, it just surprised me how many things that we take for granted, how many problems that we thought were so horrendous, how many differences we had as black and white and Jews and gentiles and Republicans and Democrats and, yet, on September 11, none of these things seemed important. It really did not make any difference what borough we were from, whether we were from the inner cities or the suburbs; as a matter of fact, whether it was upstate or downstate; we all recognized how privileged and fortunate we are just to be Americans. This feeling was felt not only throughout my city, but throughout the State.”