21 September 2001
Text: Daschle, Lott Vow United Support in War Against Terrorists
(Democrat, Republican Senate Leaders Respond to Bush Speech) (1090)
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (Democrat, South Dakota) and
Minority Leader Trent Lott (Republican, Mississippi) expressed unified
congressional support for President Bush's announced war on terrorism
just after the President spoke to Congress and the nation September
20.
The joint televised appearance by Daschle and Lott broke the usual
pattern under which a member of the opposition party traditionally
gives a response to a presidential address. This time, there was
virtually no opposition to be found to the president's expressed
determination to defeat the terrorists.
"Tonight, the president asked for our unity. He asked for our support.
He asked for our patience," Daschle said. "We want President Bush to
know -- we want the world to know -- that he can depend on us."
Daschle pledged that Congress "will take up the president's
initiatives with speed.
"We may encounter differences of opinion along the way, but there is
no difference in our aim. We are resolved to work together -- not as
Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. We will do whatever is
needed to protect our nation. Nothing is more urgent," he declared.
Lott observed that "The Congress has already started acting, in
concert with this president of the United States."
"Tonight he gave us a call to action. He said all the right things,"
the Republican leader said. And, he assured his listeners, "We will
fight for freedom here at home and all around the world."
Both leaders told of how their resolve had been strengthened when,
earlier in the day, they and dozens of other senators visited "ground
zero" -- the site of the terrorist attack on September 11 that leveled
the World Trade Center towers in New York and killed thousands.
Following is the text of the remarks by Daschle and Lott.
(begin text)
SENATOR DASCHLE: Earlier today, about 40 members of the Senate,
Republicans and Democrats visited ground zero in New York. It is
impossible to describe the utter devastation and the feeling you get
standing among the ruins. I always thought that seeing the Twin Towers
rising above New York was an inspiring site. But today, we saw
something even more inspiring. We met some of the firefighters, the
rescue workers who continue to comb through the wreckage. We talked
with survivors and family members. We saw men and women going back to
work, children going back to schools, people going on about their
daily lives with incredible courage, refusing to be cowed by terror.
If the people of New York and New Jersey can do that, surely the rest
of us can do what President Bush is asking of us.
Tonight, the president asked for our unity. He asked for our support.
He asked for our patience. We want President Bush to know -- we want
the world to know -- that he can depend on us.
We will take up the president's initiatives with speed. We may
encounter differences of opinion along the way, but there is no
difference in our aim. We are resolved to work together -- not as
Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. We will do whatever is
needed to protect our nation. Nothing is more urgent.
I commend the president for the work he has done in rallying the
world. We are grateful to the many nations who are standing with us
tonight. Together we will defeat this most insidious of threats. We
will be fierce in the defense of our ideals. We will not sacrifice the
freedoms that have sustained this nation for more than two centuries.
We must not punish entire groups for the actions of a misguided few.
Just as we are united tonight against terrorism, so too must we be
united against the acts of hatred toward innocent Arab-Americans and
Muslims and all of those who have come to our country seeking
opportunity.
Hardship and heartbreak are not new to us. We Americans have endured
great challenge and struggle. Yet none has ever broken us. Our
greatness in times of trouble is what distinguishes us as a nation.
Tonight the president has called us again to greatness, and tonight we
answered that call.
SENATOR LOTT: Ordinarily when the president of the United States
addresses a joint session of Congress, the leaders of the opposition
party give a statement, and they respond. Tonight there is no
opposition party. We stand here united, not as Republicans and
Democrats, not as Southerners or Westerners or Midwesterners or
Easterners, but as Americans.
I guess there are those in the world that thought this would pull us
apart. We would start blaming each other, and we wouldn't come to each
other's aid. Well, we saw it in New York City today.
Firemen and policemen and volunteers, men and women from all over
American and other countries were there together, working to recover
from this horrible, horrible incident.
There's been a lot of sorrow; a lot of tears. We've all grieved
together because it was not New Yorkers or Pennsylvanians or
Virginians or military men and women or these volunteers that lost
their lives. It was all of us. We've all suffered. But now we must
pull together.
The Congress has already started acting, in concert with this
president of the United States. Tonight he gave us a call to action.
He said all the right things. He reached out to those that are
grieving. He gave a challenge to us here in America. He asked for our
patience. And he told those that would heap terror on America and the
world that we will not stand for that. We will fight for freedom here
at home and all around the world.
Some people say maybe we're waving the red, white and blue of the flag
too much, on our cars, on our homes, and in our businesses and in our
schools. It's not just about the flag. It's about those that died, and
it's about those that are going to fight for freedom and to stop this
reign of terror. It's one way we can embrace those that are gone, and
those that are going to do the right thing.
It's not a trite phrase, and I've heard it all over America this last
week. We are together, and we ask, God bless America.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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