WASHINGTON, (dpa) – The Senate today approved $40 billion in emergency aid to help the victims and hunt down the perpetrators of this week’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The House was to follow suit within minutes.
The 96-0 Senate vote came just hours before President Bush, accompanied by a contingent of New York lawmakers, was to visit the site in New York where two hijacked jets rammed into the World Trade Center towers, destroying them. Another commandeered airliner was crashed into the Pentagon.
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., lauded the rapid-fire work that brought agreement on both the spending and a separate measure authorizing use of force. The Senate began voting on that immediately after approving the $40 billion.
“These are different times,” Lott told colleagues. “And we have got to act decisively. The American people expect it of us, and they will accept nothing less.”
