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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today we take a moment to remember the anniversary of September 11, 2001.
Many people recall vividly that day where they were. I was in this building outside that door and a few steps down the hallway. I can recall seeing, on a small television set, the planes striking the towers in New York. First, we were confused: What is going on here that a plane would strike a building? But when the second one took place, it started to dawn on us that this was no longer an accident; it was by design.
I can recall looking down the Mall toward the Washington Monument and seeing black smoke billowing across the Mall. It took a few minutes to establish what had happened, a plane had crashed into the Pentagon and our Department of Defense, killing the innocent people on the plane and in that building. What we were seeing was the smoke from the fire of that crash.
It wasn't a few moments afterward that someone came to the door and said: Evacuate. Leave the building.
I have been around Capitol Hill for a number of years. I had never heard that before. But we all took it seriously, and we piled out onto what was the lawn between here and the Supreme Court Building. And people gathered. Tourists came up to me and said: Do you work here?
I said: Yes.
They said: Where are we supposed to go? It was a very fundamental question because, at that point, we heard sonic booms from the jets that were being scrambled to protect this building. We assumed it would be the next target. And it might have been were it not for the courage of the passengers and crew on that United Airlines flight that was brought down in Pennsylvania before it could reach Washington, DC.
These are memories we all have and will carry for a lifetime of what had happened 22 years ago.
Now, 22 years later, we are connected by sadness as we reflect on 2,977 lives lost at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and that field in Pennsylvania.
But we also remember the care for our communities and the common purpose we found after that tragedy, after the attacks, as our Nation sought to find light amidst the darkness. In our most divided moments, we should look to that as a reminder that America, as a nation, is at its best when we seek unity and humanity over separation and hate.
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