Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Honoring The Lives Lost And Heroic Actions Taken On September 11th, 2001

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to honor those who lost their lives and those who undertook brave acts of heroism on 9/11, emphasizing his commitment to work every day to ensure the survivors of the attack receive the care they deserve. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

This morning, I stood at Ground Zero in New York, joining President Biden, Vice President Harris, New York leaders, and thousands of New Yorkers to mark the twenty-third anniversary of 9/11.

So many of those who lost loved ones were there, remembering. It’s been twenty-three years.

Now, every day, I wear this American flag pin on my lapel as a reminder of our sacred promise to never forget. Today, the pin is a little heavier.

The day after 9/11, 9/12, I called on Americans to wear the flag, to display it out their windows or wear it on their clothing as a show of solidarity and a show of our anguish over so many who were lost and at that time, missing. I’ve worn the flag every day since. Every day since. Because I never forget.

I knew people who were lost: a guy I played basketball with in high school, a businessman who helped me on the way up, a firefighter, I went around the city with him, urging people to donate blood. And so it's a tough day.

It’s been twenty-three years since 9/11, but I remember it like yesterday: the smell of the pile, the images of destruction that New Yorkers had never seen before.

I remember the chilling and otherworldly images of people lining up on the sidewalks, hundreds of them, with pictures, because no one knew who was dead and who wasn't. Unfortunately, very few survived. But the pictures, “Have you seen my daughter Mary?” “Have you seen my brother John?” I'll never forget. And I had some of those pictures donated to the 9/11 museum.

I remember people I knew, as I said, who died in the attack.

But I also remember the heroism: first responders disregarding their own safety and running towards danger to save others.

I remember New Yorkers going out of their way to help each other, complete strangers joining to pray together, grieve together, and work together to rebuild and heal.

Many had ran down those stairs to escape the towers, and left their shoes behind, and right a block away was a guy with a shoe store just handing out shoes to people. That's the kind of people New Yorkers are and Americans are.

Twenty-three years later, our sacred obligation to care for the survivors, and their families, continues. In the last two years, I’ve secured nearly $1.7 billion in funding for the World Trade Health Center Program, which helps first responders and survivors treat cancers and respiratory sicknesses and mental health and more. I thank Senator Gillibrand, who’s been a great partner on this, and the New York delegation in the House, bipartisan.

Earlier this year, we introduced legislation to make funding for this program permanent, so that our 9/11 heroes and families don’t have to keep coming down to Washington to ask and advocate for the care they deserve.

In the last Congress, I was proud to work with my colleagues to pass the Fairless for 9/11 Families Act, which finally compensated those who were wrongly left out of the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

That is what never forget means. It is not a passive promise, it is an active commitment to work every day to ensure the survivors of those terrible days are provided for. It is a prayer that America may find the strength and grace to always endure, to always weather the storm, to always come back from adversity stronger and more united than before, and to never turn on each other, but to be unified in our strength and camaraderie.

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