Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda orchestrated the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, killing almost 3,000 people and wounding thousands more. The attacks created an environmental nightmare as hundreds of tons of every contaminant known to man and woman came into the streets and the canyons of Manhattan and Brooklyn. {time} 1310 You can see pictures of this in front of us. Into this toxic crowd ran firefighters and police and other first responders. First responders came from all 50 States to aid in the rescue and cleanup of the subsequent days. The Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, despite ample evidence to the contrary, kept falsely proclaiming that the air was safe to breathe. It wasn't. The terrorists caused the environmental catastrophe, but the Federal Government compounded the damage by telling people that the environment was safe when it wasn't, and now thousands of people are sick and in need of special care. We have a moral obligation to treat those who became ill, and that is what this bill is all about. For 8 years, Representative Maloney and I, supported in a bipartisan basis by the New York delegation and others, have worked to bring this bill to the floor. Now it is finally time to pass it.…”