Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112th

 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m.

Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.

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H5769 

Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 No. 121 

House of Representatives 

The House met at 10 a.m. and was 

called to order by the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. WEBSTER

f 

). 

DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO 

TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from the Speaker: 

WASHINGTON, DC, 

September 11, 2012. 

I hereby appoint the Honorable DANIEL

WEBSTER to act as Speaker pro tempore on 

this day. 

JOHN A. BOEHNER, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

f 

MORNING-HOUR DEBATE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of January 17, 2012, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by 

the majority and minority leaders for 

morning-hour debate. 

The Chair will alternate recognition 

between the parties, with each party 

limited to 1 hour and each Member 

other than the majority and minority 

leaders and the minority whip limited 

to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall 

debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. 

f 

9–11–01—11 YEARS 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Texas (Mr. POE) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on a 

cool September morning in Texas, I 

was driving my Jeep to the courthouse 

where I was a judge for a long time. I 

was listening to KILT radio, a country 

western station. Willie Nelson was 

singing ‘‘Blue Eyes Crying in the 

Rain.’’ All of the sudden, Robert B. 

McEntire, the newscaster for KILT 

radio, comes on and interrupts the program. He said that an airplane had 

crashed into the north tower of the 

World Trade Center, and that’s about 

all we knew at that time. It was 8:46 

a.m. eastern time, 7:46 a.m. in Texas. 

Continuing my daily journey to the 

courthouse, a few minutes later he 

comes back on the radio and says that 

a second airplane had crashed into the 

second south tower of the World Trade 

Center in New York City. The world 

understood at that time this was serious. This was an attack on our Nation, 

on our country. 

After I got to the courthouse, we 

learned that a third airplane flying 

over Washington, D.C., very close to 

the building we’re in, the United States 

Capitol, went down the street less than 

a mile, and crashed into the Pentagon. 

That was at 9:37 eastern time. Then a 

fourth airplane we remember as Flight 

93 was flying toward Washington, D.C., 

probably headed to the Capitol or the 

White House, where some good, rightthinking folks took control of the 

plane from hijackers, and they crashed 

in Pennsylvania in a field at 10:07 eastern standard time. 

Mr. Speaker, on September 11, 2001, 

this Nation was attacked. Three thousand people were killed that day. It’s 

interesting that the attackers decided 

to attack the World Trade Center because people from 90 nationalities were 

in the World Trade Center buildings, 

the south and the north. So it was 

more than an attack on America; it 

was an attack on the people of the 

world, freedom-loving people, people 

who believed in living life and liberty. 

The murder was done by 19 radicals 

who murdered in the name of religion. 

Of the 3,000 people that were killed, 411 

of them were emergency workers and 

341 were members of the New York Fire 

Department. There were also two fire 

department members of New York who 

were paramedics that were killed that 

day, 23 officers from NYPD, 37 Port Authority officers from New York and 

New Jersey, and eight emergency medical technicians and paramedics killed 

that day. 

In the aftermath of that morning, 

first responders from all over the 

United States later that week went to 

New York to help in the recovery and 

help restore what had happened at 

Ground Zero. Many of those first responders still suffer from toxins that 

they acquired while working Ground 

Zero, as many members of first responders from New York and New Jersey are still suffering. But today we remember all of those people that were 

killed that day on September 11. 

Later that evening, I, like most 

Americans, was watching television, 

and saw the horror on video of what 

had occurred. I, like you, Mr. Speaker, 

saw those thousands of people in New 

York. When those planes crashed into 

the World Trade Center buildings, they 

were fleeing as fast as they could from 

the terror that came from the sky. 

There was another group of people. 

Like the fire horses of old that charged 

to the smell of smoke and the roar of 

fire, those individuals charged to that 

terror from the sky. There weren’t 

very many. There were a handful, but 

yet they were there. Who were they? 

They were the first responders. They 

were the firefighters. They were the 

emergency medical technicians. They 

were the paramedics. They were the 

peace officers. And many of them died 

that day. 

While it’s important that we remember those that were killed, it’s equally 

important that we remember those 

that got to live, Mr. Speaker, because 

those first responders charged to that 

terror from the sky. Many of them 

gave up their lives so others could live 

on that infamous day of September 11, 

2001. 

And that’s just the way it is. 

f 

IN HONOR OF TROOPER BOBBY 

GENE DEMUTH 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 


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