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American Morning
Congress to Hold Special Joint Session in New York City
Aired September 06, 2002 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly 300 members of Congress at this moment are on a train heading to New York. They will be holding a ceremonial joint meeting near Ground Zero a little bit later on this morning to mark the anniversary of 9/11.
Kate Snow is covering this historic gesture of solidarity to the city. She joins us from lower Manhattan this morning. This might erase some of the fears New Yorkers have that the folks living outside of New York snub us all the time.
Good morning, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula. Nice to be here in New York.
Expect this to be a very somber ceremony this morning, also highly symbolic ceremony. A special session being held by the Congress. This is a pretty big deal, because you know they've only left Washington, D.C., and met outside of Washington just two times -- this will be the second time -- since 1800 when they moved there.
They've been talking about holding a special session ever since last September 11. This morning, about an hour ago, members of Congress boarded a special Amtrak train down at Union Station in Washington, D.C. They're bound for Pennsylvania Station here in New York.
We have about 250 members of the House coming, about 40-some Senators coming. That's about half of the United States Congress, although they were all invited. They will hold the special session in Federal Hall, the building right behind me.
They've been preparing for hours and days here. It's about four blocks from Ground Zero. This is sort of a homecoming for Congress, because Federal Hall is exactly the site where Congress first met back in 1789, until 1790 when they moved to Philadelphia.
This morning the session will go about an hour. We'll hear speeches from the four leaders of Congress, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney, expected to be here. And later they'll hold a wreath- laying ceremony at Ground Zero, members of Congress saying it's all about showing solidarity with the people of New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's again showing the unity and the resolve of the American people before the world, our court of public understanding. And I think it's particularly important that these terrorists realize they can hit us; we can take the blow; we can bounce back. We can then give them holy fits, which we will do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congress wanted to say thank you to New Yorkers for the way firemen, policemen, and emergency people, but more importantly our citizens who work every day, the way they handled this: not as New Yorkers but as Americans. And so it's a very emotional day for us, and I look forward to it, as does the mayor, as do the people of New York City.
SNOW: And the events this morning, Paula, being paid for, interestingly, by a grant from the Annenberg Foundation, about a million dollars that they've donated. That's because taxpayer dollars can't be used, under the ethics rules of the Congress. They can't use our money, taxpayer money, to pay for this kind of thing, for travel up to New York.
And some of the members are going to stick around, Paula, for the weekend. They've been invited to Broadway shows, baseball games, that soft of thing. So some of them will be here all weekend long.
Paula?
ZAHN: Well, it's interesting, as well: behind your left shoulder you've got the junior senator of New York, Hillary Clinton, with senior senator, Senator Schumer, at a time when Senator Byrd was basically saying he thought it would have been a pretty good idea if his colleagues had stayed home to get some work done. And he said he believed just about every bit of gesture of sorrow had already been made.
Any reaction to what he's saying about his colleagues being here in the first place?
SNOW: Well, there -- there has been a, you know, I suppose, a little bit of talking in that direction, although most of the members that I've talked to said, "Why not come up to New York? Why not show their solidarity?" It's a Friday morning, Paula, and to be honest, Congress doesn't usually do a lot on Fridays. Usually they're headed back to their districts.
A lot of people that -- that aren't coming here today told me that it's simply because they had logistical scheduling conflicts. They had, you know, campaign events that they're doing back at home, and that sort of thing. So a Friday morning typically isn't when they get a lot of work done in Congress. But Senator Byrd makes a point, that they have a lot to get done over the next six weeks before they adjourn for the elections.
ZAHN: All right. Thanks so much. Please tell Senator Clinton we look forward to seeing her in the next hour...
SNOW: Okay.
ZAHN: ...on the show right here on American Morning. Actually, she's about three feet away from Kate at this moment.
