Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Speaker, this bill is a matter of simple equity. That is to give the United States citizens who are the victims of…”

“Mr. Speaker, this bill is a matter of simple equity. That is to give the United States citizens who are the victims of the al Qaeda strike in East Africa in 1998 the same rights to get funds from the special master as those who are the victims of the al Qaeda strikes on September 11 in New York City and at the Pentagon. Now, perhaps the al Qaeda strikes in East Africa went under the radar screen with most Americans as well as many Members of Congress. But those two embassy properties, one in Nairobi, Kenya, and the other in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, are just as much the sovereign territory of the United States of America as the land on which the World Trade Center rested and the land on which the Pentagon rests today. So passing this bill will mean that we do not have different strokes for different folks depending upon whether the people were killed by al Qaeda in East Africa or whether they were in New York City or in Northern Virginia. So, as a matter of equity, as a matter of fairness, and as a matter of preventing different strokes from happening for different folks, I would urge the passage of this bill.”