John Spratt: “Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, was a dark day in the history of our country. Today, we are bloodied but not bowed. We are a…”

“Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, was a dark day in the history of our country. Today, we are bloodied but not bowed. We are a country united. Here in Congress we are neither Democrats nor Republicans, we are Americans, and we have closed ranks behind our President. We come here in this hallowed hall of democracy to express the grief and profound sympathy of the whole country for the victims of yesterday's heinous attacks and their families, and we come together resolved to see that their loss will be avenged and never repeated. These attacks were not just vicious crimes committed against innocent people. As many have already said, they were acts of war against the United States of America, and we must respond accordingly. We should spare no effort in tracking down these culprits and their cohorts, wherever they take haven, and striking back swiftly and severely; so severely that even fanatics like these see that there is no gain from such violence, not when it is committed against the United States of America.”