Tenth District Congressman
Donald Payne joined other members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation
today in meeting with New Jersey families who lost loved ones in the September
11th tragedy. Mounting financial concerns, compounding the personal anguish
suffered by the families, prompted them to travel to Washington to voice
support for legislation approved earlier this year in the United States
Senate which provides greater relief than a bill passed in the House of
Representatives. Congressman Payne made the following statement after meeting
with the families:
As the representative of the Tenth Congressional District, where we
lost a number of men and women in the September 11th tragedy, I want to
stress how important it is to me personally on behalf of those families
that we proceed quickly with the Victims of Terrorism Relief Act. It is
time to put politics aside and approve the bill passed by the Senate which
provides debt relief for the victims' families as well as disability payments
tax relief and tax relief from victims' compensation funds. The legislation
also adds greater payroll tax relief and adds the families of the Oklahoma
City bombing and the anthrax contamination to its list of beneficiaries.
I would also like to see relief provided to the families of victims of
the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The tragic events of September 11th touched the residents of my Congressional
District in a profound and personal way. United Flight 93, one of the fateful
flights on that most horrifying of days, departed Newark International
Airport, which I represent, carrying innocent passengers who would become
pawns in the most senseless act of terrorism imaginable. Just recently,
I attended a memorial service at Linden Presbyterian Church for Ms. Wanda
Green, a dedicated flight attendant who was killed in the plane which went
down in Pennsylvania, the plane which otherwise would have headed straight
for Washington, D.C. Meeting Ms. Green's children, Jennifer and Joe, served
as a reminder of the anguishing personal ordeal that families of victims
suffer each day.
As we struggle to comprehend and confront the magnitude of this shocking
attack on the United States, let us above all remember the victims - let
us put a human face on this tragedy which claimed the lives of so many
people who shared the everyday dreams and hopes we all have. We owe it
to all of the victims and their survivors to move forward with legislation
which provides these families with expanded assistance as they cope with
this devastating tragedy.
