Steve Israel: “Mr. Chairman, we also share the desire to see that something like September 11 never happens again. As a Member would…”

“Mr. Chairman, we also share the desire to see that something like September 11 never happens again. As a Member would whose district lies about 40 miles from what we now call ``Ground Zero,'' the consideration of the Homeland Security Act holds a very special importance for me. My district lost over 100 people on that tragic day. One of the great pleasures of serving on the Committee on Science with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), the chairman of that committee, is the bipartisan manner in which he has guided the committee. I take pride, as I am sure he does, that legislation produced in the Committee on Science bears the input and the collaboration of all of its members. This was true when we debated those areas of the Homeland Security Act that fell in the purview of the committee and passed an amendment to create an advisory committee of the first responders, specifically in the Office of Science and Technology. Let me explain why this is so necessary.”