Memorial Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. GIANFORTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6287) to provide competitive grants for the operation, security, and maintenance of certain memorials to victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
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Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6287, offered by Congressman Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, honors and memorializes the victims and heroes of September 11, 2001.
The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants through a competitive process to nonprofit organizations for the operation and maintenance of memorials to commemorate the events and honor the victims of the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
It has been 17 years since that dark day in American history. The National September 11th Memorial in New York City, the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial just across the Potomac River in Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, stand as solemn tributes and remembrances to the thousands of victims of those attacks.
H.R. 6287 authorizes a competitive grant program for operation, security, and maintenance of these memorials.
Throughout our Nation's history, Congress has stepped forward to authorize operating funds in public-private partnership with nongovernmental organizations for memorials and museums of national significance. Like congressional authorizations of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Kennedy Center, a Federal authorization for grants in support of 9/11 memorials at the sites of the attacks will help to operate and maintain these sites of national remembrance and reflection.
We should always remember and forever honor those who lost their lives on that fateful day.
Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Representative MacArthur for his work on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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