Jerry Nadler: “Mr. Speaker, we are here to pass this resolution honoring John Downing, Brian Fahey and Harry Ford, who lost their lives…”

“Mr. Speaker, we are here to pass this resolution honoring John Downing, Brian Fahey and Harry Ford, who lost their lives on Father's Day in the course of a tragic fire in New York; but really we are honoring all firefighters, because there are hundreds of thousands of firefighters throughout this land, in New York and every other State, who daily risk their lives; and it is only by accident of fate that these three people, unfortunately, were killed. Every firefighter risks his or her life every day of the year for the safety of all of us, and certainly we ought to honor them and their sacrifices and their potential sacrifices. We all sleep soundly, and we take for granted the heroism of these people whose services we might need at any day. They are not paid as well as they should be, they live probably in conditions not as well as they ought to, but we all depend on them for our lives and property; and we ought to honor them and express our sorrow and our condolences at this loss. Mr. Speaker, I join in supporting this resolution.”