REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

On 2026-09-03, Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-1) delivered a floor speech titled "REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11, 2001" in the House.

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 140 (Thursday, September 3, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 140 (Thursday, September 3, 2026)] [House] [Page H5482] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 (Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, 25 years ago, ordinary people kissed their families good-bye and went to work. As I went to work after making my children's lunch, I heard on the radio that a plane had flown into Tower One and thought it was a prank. By the time we turned on the TV in our waiting room, we saw the second plane hit the tower and knew we had a terrorist attack, our generation's Pearl Harbor. Among them were a father who called his wife just to say ``I love you'' one more time; a mother who tucked a photo of her kids into her bag that morning; an Iowan who was in his second week at Columbia, who goes down to volunteer and then enlists in the military; firefighters who ran upstairs while everyone else was running down because that was simply who they were. Nearly 3,000 of them never made it home. In the quiet that followed, in the ash, in the silence, something happened that I still carry with me. Strangers became family. We held each other. We cried together. For a moment, we forgot everything that divided us. I enlisted in the Army to ensure rights for everyone, regardless of whether they disagree with me. Now, 25 years later, I still think about the families who set an extra place at the table that will always be empty, the children who grew up without a parent. Their grief became our grief, and it still is. We promise to never forget. I will never forget them. I will always defend them. Those who harm us, we will not forget. ____________________