Jack Reed: “If it is not broke, why are we trying to fix it? And it is not broken. Again, in my final few moments, I heard from my…”

“If it is not broke, why are we trying to fix it? And it is not broken. Again, in my final few moments, I heard from my colleague from Maine--and I have heard it again and again--those firefighters struggling up the stairs of the World Trade Center were union employees. No one checked with their bargaining agent before going up those stairs. In fact, I don't think they even checked with some of their captains and battalion commanders. They went up those upstairs because it was their job and their duty and their lives. And many of them paid with their lives. It is that spirit that emanates from those firefighters that encourages and embraces all dedicated civil servants in our Federal Government. I think to pursue this initiative is really, in a way, a slap at them, an insult to what they bring each and every day to their jobs, to their tasks, to their duty.”