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ADDRESS OF SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY Mr. Leahy. Madam President, I applaud the Senators from Delaware and North Carolina for leading the debate on this resolution and, of course, our leaders, Senator Daschle and Senator Lott, for bringing this resolution before the senate. Most Senators will speak on the floor about yesterday’s tragedy. It is impossible for the men and women of this body to say all the things that can be said and should be said. The 100 of us, though, are given the duty and the honor to speak for over 260 million Americans. I know in my case my wife Marcelle and I, like all Vermonters, pray for the victims of these heinous acts. We also pray for their loved ones who remain behind. The heart of every American aches for those who died or have been injured. Think how the families and friends feel. I know that in my own state, the head of the Roman Catholic diocese, Bishop Angell, has been leading his congregation in prayer while his heart aches knowing that his brother and his sister-in-law died on one of the hijacked planes. Can you imagine the grief? All day yesterday, last night, and this morning, I have heard from my fellow Vermonters by phone and by Internet. I hear from my friends and members of my staff of the losses they have suffered of family and friends. I think of my own children, each one of whom were trying to call Washington yesterday, when all the phones were jammed, to find out where their mother and I were. You can replicate that for hundreds of thousands of people around the country. We have tried to answer those calls. We have tried to get the answers for them and so often the answers are terrible ones. I listened to the news a little after 5 this morning. I heard the name of a friend of mine who went into the World Trade building to help with the rescue, and the building came down. I have said for so many years that in a democracy like ours, terrorism should not be our Achilles heel. It is clear that now more than ever we have to concentrate on the terrorist threat. I applaud the Democratic and the Republican leaders of the House and Senate for bringing us back into session today. As our Capitol was evacuated yesterday, as I stood out here on the plaza and saw people coming out of our buildings, I said: Lord, let us get back in there as soon as possible for if we let terrorism shut down our democracy, then terrorism wins. We had to say to the American people that we were here today, including our loyal and brave staff. I was proud to be in my seat representing Vermont when we opened the Senate and this building today. We know that quite possibly this building was the target of the plane that crashed, but we know that this building must be opened because the people’s business is done here. No country, and no terrorist, no matter how evil, no matter how twisted, no matter how diabolic can close the symbols of U. S. democracy or what we do. Just as the brave men and women of our Armed Forces will not stop because of this dastardly attack on the Pentagon. And just as the people in New York City who make up the fiber of ingenuity, innovation, economics, and learning in our country. The rest of the country will pick up the torch. Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, "a date which will live in infamy." Almost 60 years later, Americans face such another day and challenge to our democracy. Just as the people of this country became united in World War II, we must unite against the cowardice of evil and terrorism. As our leaders said this morning: We stand here not as Republicans or Democrats, we stand together. We will be supportive of our President, our institutions and of each other because a challenge to our freedom is going to be answered by the strength of our democracy. Trial by fire can refine us or it can coarsen us. If we hold to our ideals, then it strengthens us. Our people, our values, our institutions are strong. President Roosevelt spoke of the arsenal of democracy. That arsenal – our ideals, our values, our freedom, our community, our humanity – sustains us and propels us forward. As much as our military weaponry, these ideals are the arsenal of democracy. Let nobody outside our shores have any question about this: Americans are united. All the free world, all civilized nations, all caring people will join together at this difficult time. It has meant so much to hear the calls from around the world. Our values, our resolve, our commitment, our sense of community will serve us well. I am confident that, as a nation, we will seek and serve justice. Our Nation, my neighbors and friends in Vermont demand no less, but we must not let the terrorists win. If we abandon our democracy to battle them, they win. If we forget our role as the world’s leader to defeat them, they win. And we will win. We will maintain our democracy, and with justice, we will use our strength. We will not lose our commitment to the rule of law, no matter how much the provocation, because that rule of law has protected us throughout the centuries. It has created our democracy. It has made us what we are in history. We are a just and good nation. We will remain a just and good nation, but we are a nation capable of a terrible fury, and our enemies must know that. Madam President, our enemies will know that. I yield the floor. # # # # #  |
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