Jerry Nadler: “I thank Congresswoman Maloney for yielding and for all her work over the years on this issue. It is hard to believe it…”

“I thank Congresswoman Maloney for yielding and for all her work over the years on this issue. It is hard to believe it has been 18 years. Like many New Yorkers, 9/ 11 seems both long ago and immediate, a memory and something I live with every day. I was in Washington that morning and immediately rushed back to New York by train. I saw the smoking wreckage in Lower Manhattan from the train window and expected chaos in the city, but, when I exited Penn Station that evening, I was struck by the silence. It was like a scene from out of the movie ``On the Beach.'' The city seemed empty. No cars, no people, no vehicles, no buses, nothing on the streets--just the strange odor that hung in the air. Knowing the terror and confusion happening just 40 blocks south, the silence was eerie. But, as we recall the fear and grief of September 11, we cannot forget the courage we saw that morning and in the days, weeks, and months following the attack: the firefighters who ran into those buildings, the police officers who searched for survivors, the coworkers who carried each other down endless stairs, the strangers on the street who guided each other to safety, the construction workers who spent months clearing debris. The legacy of 9/11 is not just one of tragedy and grief; it is one of courage, self-sacrifice, and community; it is one of the American people, through Congress, appropriating $20 billion to help New York begin to recover from the terrorist attack.…”