José E. Serrano: “this is how it started with the devastation at the World Trade Center. This aerial photograph shows you what you have…”

“this is how it started with the devastation at the World Trade Center. This aerial photograph shows you what you have already seen and what you know, the damage. What this photograph does not show you is the ripple effect that it has had on a community, on a city. Underneath this rubble, there are people who lost their lives and may never be found. But the ripple effect is people who lost their jobs, victims who have to be compensated, rebuilding that has to take place. That this picture does not show you. That is what this amendment is about. But this amendment is also about a promise, a promise from a President to a city, a promise from a President to a Nation, that we would get what was coming to us in terms of dollars. Now we are being told to wait until the spring. As I said many times today and many times in the last few weeks, next spring the fervor for New York may not be the same. Next spring if you pit New York against other budget items, New York will not win that fight. And so we are here today to try to bring help to the victims and to try to bring help to our city, not by asking for anything we do not deserve or not by asking for anything that was not promised, by simply allowing the law to be carried out. Let us be clear on that. It is law and all we need to do is follow the law. The picture tells you what you need to know. But what we need to solve is how to deal with the devastation that was left behind.”