FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2002

Contact: Josh Freed
(202) 225-4431
 
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) today took part an historic Commemorative Joint Session of Congress to mark the anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center.

“This historic event is a fitting tribute to the innocent Americans who lost their lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and aboard Flight 93 in Pennsylvania,” said Rep. DeGette. “It is also a salute to the heroic sacrifice made by the rescue workers, firemen and women, and police officers who risked their own lives to try to save others."

During the session, Congress presented Concurrent Resolution 448 to the Mayor and City of New York. This resolution authorized Congress to

The joint session was held in Federal Hall, where the first Congress was held in 1787 and President George Washington was inaugurated in 1789. It will mark the first time Congress has held a session in New York since 1790. This is only the second Commemorative Joint Session to be held outside of Washington, DC. The first, held in Philadelphia in 1987, celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention that resulted in the creation of the two houses of Congress.

Members of Congress also attended a luncheon with family members of victims of the attack hosted by Governor George Pataki (R-NY) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R-NY), and took part in a wreath laying ceremony at Ground Zero.
 
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