On behalf of our New York delegation, and especially Ben Gilman – who has been my
friend for over 30 years, who leaves us [at the end of the year].  Where are you, Ben?   And our entire delegation, which I hope will rise at this time, [and] the supporters of our resolution.  I want to thank the leadership in the House and the Senate for supporting this resolution, our mayor and governor for giving it their political support, Mrs. Annenberg for giving us our financial support, and most importantly all of you who took time from your busy schedules, and indeed our legislative schedules, to come to our great city to give us an opportunity to say thank you. 

 History is a strange thing when you're making it. You're just not aware of the courage you may have or the shortcomings that you may have. And, just as the mayor in telling you about the attributes of New York, it could be perceived that most of us from New York City have a little more self-esteem than we really need to in order get by. 

 But when we were hit, we were afraid, we were scared. We didn't know whether we were going to be hit again. And Jerry Nadler, whose district was hit, was one of the first to get there. 

 And as the mayor said and the governor said, people came from all over. Not just our heroic policemen and firemen and emergency workers, but kids came, flags were there, foods were there, doctors were there. Everyone wanted to help. 

 Most of the New York congressional delegation was in the city.  We were there because it was a primary day. And so, when we got back to Washington, we didn’t know what to expect. We went by car. We went by bus. We went by train. And when we saw our colleagues there, singing “God Bless America,” we recognized that we were not just New Yorkers; that we were Americans.

 It wasn't just our great city that was hit, it was our great country that was attacked. 

 And we did come together, not as Republicans and Democrats and liberals and conservatives, but we came together in support of our president and our legislative leaders to let all of our foes know that we were united in our resolve to make certain that we would do all that we could to see that this does not happen again. 

 And even now, as we gather to praise those that fought so hard for our country, that became our heroes, we send a message to our enemies that it is our resolve to say once again: “Don’t tread on the United States of America; that we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to seek out and to destroy those who seek to destroy our way of life.”

 We come back to where the Congress has met over 200 years ago.  And I cannot but be emotionally moved and believing how proud our forefathers would be of us, to come back after 200 years, and to see what we have done with their Constitution – how much we have treasured it, how much we have expanded it, and how much, today as we meet, we are prepared to protect it. 

 How little did they know that those who picked cotton during those days, those that would come into our country to build our roads and our railroads, those that would come from foreign countries seeking religious and economic freedom, would be coming here as a part of the United States Congress 200 years later. 

 U.S. history is strange because, not only are we living it, but giving New Yorkers an opportunity to say thank you to our colleagues in the House means that we are saying thank you to America too. 

 We are basically saying, as New Yorkers, “God bless this great country that gives us an opportunity to have our diversity and to continue to believe that a part of the legacy that we are going to leave is: that we’re not going to allow terrorism to instill terror in our heart; that our basic commitment has to be that while we would not allow an enemy to intimidate us, we’re not going to allow terror to take away our basic freedoms; that we’re not going to strike any unknown country without  knowing where the enemy actually is; and that the opportunities that we have been given as a people – of education, of Social Security, of health care, of opportunity –  that we’re going to make certain that, as we protect this country, we protect those civil liberties that have been passed on to us so that when the next Congress meets, no matter where they meet, they will be saying that we protected the Constitution that was given to us over 200 years ago.”

 My mother, your mother, everyone always said that, during times of pain, you would have to seek and you can find some good in it.  But the truth of the matter is that, when we were struck, it was hard to believe that we could find some good. 

 But there was good that we found out.  America gave us an opportunity to say thank you to each other.  America gave us an opportunity to see how blessed we were; that we could look at each other without seeing color, without seeing party label, without seeing where we came from, and recognize that we had an obligation to protect what we have. 

 Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor, thank you for giving us the support in bringing us together. And now we can say that we really owe a lot to each other, because we need other. 

 We hope this never happens again, but thank you, Congress, for helping us when we needed you, and notwithstanding our attitude, we deeply appreciate the opportunity.