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Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, as all of us know and the Nation today commemorates, 23 years ago we experienced the unthinkable. Our Nation went through an unspeakable, massive terrorist attack on our own soil for the first time in our history.

The attacks on September 11 reshaped the world as we know it even today and changed our country to its core. Nearly 3,000 innocent lives were lost, and countless more were forever impacted as families and loved ones carry their memory. Thousands survived the attacks, but they were forever changed as well--physically, emotionally, and in many other ways.

No matter how many years go by, the survivors and victims of the September 11 attacks and their families will always be in our hearts. And many of them live in Connecticut, and we remember them and their loved ones today.

As all of us know, this unimaginable loss shook our Nation to its core, and now, more than two decades later, we remain committed to honoring the survivors and the fallen. We remember the people we lost, but we should also remember the survivors; the loved ones of the fallen; the first responders, who continue to bear the wounds of that day and the successive days; the veterans, who bear the visible and invisible wounds of war because the ripple effects of that attack on September 11 continue to haunt us. And we should remember not just the horror of that day but also the heroism, because in the days and weeks afterward as well as on that day, that heroism helped to bring us together as a nation as never before or since.

We were as one in those days. And all of us have memories--especially in Connecticut and other States impacted directly in our losses--of the vigils, the conversations, and the acts of kindness and generosity, most of them totally unrecorded and many of them now perhaps unremembered.

But in remembering the great heroes whom we lost, in their honor, we should also remember the loved ones who survived them. That is the reason that we have the Victim Compensation Fund, and that is the reason that we are fighting for justice, for them, so that their rights are vindicated. Whether it is in court or through diplomatic channels, they deserve justice against all who were complicit in the unspeakable, horrific acts of that day, all who supported them and who enabled them.

That is the reason why, in Congress, I have helped to lead efforts to keep the courthouse doors open to their legal action, along with a bipartisan group that, in fact, overrode the veto of a President on JASTA. So, justice for the loved ones.

And the wounds of that day will never completely heal because we suffered losses that we will never forget--our friends who lost lives. In Connecticut, we gather every year in one of our most beautiful parks, Sherwood Island in Westport, where there is a memorial. Every year, many of those loved ones come for a ceremony that is both solemn and exquisitely beautiful, and every year we lay flowers at that memorial as part of our remembering.

But we also know that on that day, first responders rushed toward danger. They ran into burning buildings. And many of the firemen and police from Connecticut spent weeks breathing in toxic chemicals from burning jet fuel and concrete filled with asbestos that has led thousands of them to develop chronic medical conditions that require ongoing medical treatment and consistent monitoring for the delayed onset of illnesses such as cancer.

That is why, in 2010, Congress created the World Trade Center Health Program to provide healthcare services with no out-of-pocket costs-- none--to those directly impacted. This program treats first responders and survivors for many chronic illnesses and respiratory diseases, including asthma, sinusitis, obstructive pulmonary disease, and other kinds of health issues directly associated with the 9/11 attacks that continue to grow and evolve.

Over the years, there have been efforts to cut funding for this crucial program. To be clear, let us resolve on this day that defunding the World Trade Center Health Program would be an unforgivable betrayal of the thousands of individuals who risked their lives in the 9/11 attack. I will continue fighting against any attempt to strip even one first responder or survivor of the healthcare they deserve.

In Connecticut, as of June 2024, 1,365 individuals were enrolled in this program. They deserve that we continue this support, and that is also why I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act. It ensures that the World Trade Center Health Program receives permanent and mandatory funding while updating the outdated funding formula to prevent a shortfall that would put survivors and first responders at risk of losing access to healthcare.

We cannot afford, in terms of conscience and conviction, this betrayal of our solemn obligation to those first responders and their families--and likewise to veterans--thousands of them--who now bear the invisible wounds of war, from PTS to the cancer or hypertension or other kinds of medical conditions resulting from their exposure to the poisons and toxic chemicals in burn pits and elsewhere during their fight for our Nation in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to keep faith with them.

The PACT Act should be fully funded, robustly supported by Congress, and never abandoned. I will continue to fight to support the PACT Act but also to support outreach so that more veterans are aware of these benefits and the care that is offered by the Veterans Administration--the screening that can help save them from diseases that will be less severe if they are stopped earlier. Again, cancer is one of the great enemies.

We vow again today: Never forget. Those two words are probably repeated on this day, year after year, more often than any other time: Never forget. But never forgetting is more than just words. It is a commitment to honor the memories of the fallen with action--the fallen on 9/11, the fallen who died afterward from diseases that resulted from 9/11, the fallen among our veterans who gave their lives or now suffer medical conditions resulting from their service. We will never forget in action as well as in words--in deed, as well as in rhetoric. That has to be the promise that we keep today.

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