Political Quotes

“Let us remember that the September 11 attacks were not attacks on New York, it was an attack on America, and we as Americans need to help New York City recover its costs directly connected to the World Trade Center attacks. I am a little bit bewildered to be here today to even be discussing this at all, because 2 days after September 11, I was part of a congressional delegation that met with President Bush at the White House, and the President unequivocally said to us the $20 billion is for New York, and the $20 billion is only the start, because $20 billion alone is not enough to repair all the damage that was done to New York. It was a floor, not a ceiling. And that money, the President told us, would be there. Now, I do not understand what the difficulty is. The money has been appropriated. It is a law. It has been passed. The money should be there. It should be a pot of money for New York to draw on, not something for New York to come back next year and ask for more, when there will be other regions of the country with needs. And to have to compete with those regions, that is not fair. When there are earthquakes and fires and floods, we all respond. We certainly need to respond to terrorism. And if the money is going to be there, why is it not there now, when this is the law that this Congress passed? Many, many people need our help. Four thousand people died.…”