David Thomas: “perhaps in the explanation if we could start with the bill that originated in the House, which was an attempt to take…”

“perhaps in the explanation if we could start with the bill that originated in the House, which was an attempt to take current law that is available to service members and civilians overseas in a terrorist attack, which would provide income tax relief and estate tax relief, and we brought them to the gentleman's city to say that the New York area was, in fact, tantamount to a war zone and that the victims in that area should receive the same benefit as current law provides for people who are victims of terrorist acts overseas. That was the sum and substance of the bill we sent to the Senate. For the 3 months that the Senate has had the bill, they examined it in a number of different ways. They added a particular death benefit for those individuals who were involved not only in the September 11 terrorist attacks, but also the Oklahoma City bombing of 6 years ago and for those individuals who, through no fault of their own, were victims from anthrax attacks. In addition to that, they added a number of particular provisions dealing with charitable organizations, disaster relief payments, victims' compensation funds, and a number of other items.”