The U.S. Congress met in New York to commemorate the September 11 attacks

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Partisan politics will be set aside Friday as the U.S. Congress traveled to the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New York City for an event commemorating the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

All four congressional leaders - Republicans Dennis Hastert from the House of Representatives and Minority Leader Trent Lott, as well as Democrats Dick Gephardt from the House and Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle - held a special joint meeting of Congress in New York and passed a resolution affirming support for the city.

Traveling by train from Washington amid extraordinary security, legislators convened in the city's Federal Hall, standing on the site where the first Congress under the Constitution convened in 1789, located just blocks from ground zero.

Friday's congressional meeting is the first in New York, the city that launched the federal government, since 1790, reports CNN.

After a lunch hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, lawmakers laid a wreath at ground zero, before each placed a U.S. flag in memory of more than 3,000 people who died in the attacks in New York, the Pentagon and in the plane that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Hastert will preside over the session that will be steeped in ceremony and symbolism, reports news agencies.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican, said of the meeting, "It's again showing the unity and the resolve of the American people before the world court of public understanding."

"And I think it's particularly important that these terrorists realize that they can hit us, we can take a blow, we can bounce back and we can then give them holy fits."

"This is where it all started, and I think it is important for us to bring closure, to the extent you can in one year," said Daschle, speaking to CNN before the meeting started.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), said, "We're basically going to extend our condolences. This is still a year of mourning."

Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, said, "Congress wanted to say thank you to New Yorkers," to the firefighters, police and citizenry.

"This is a magnificent tribute to a magnificent city that has experienced some heart-wrenching sadness," said Rangel, who helped arrange the session.

"America has stuck behind New York, and we are extremely appreciative and grateful," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

News agencies report that a joint resolution passed by both houses of Congress earlier this year authorized the New York session in "remembrance of the victims and the heroes of September 11, 2001" and in recognition of "the courage and spirit of the city of New York."

West Virginia Democrat and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, said he had no intention of going to New York. 

"I believe Congress ought to be here - working. There is work to be done here," said Byrd in Washington, noting the need to pass several fiscal bills in order to keep the government running.

"There is not anything I can do by going up there," Byrd said softly. "There is nothing more we can say about our sorrow that we have not already said."

The symbolic event comes one day after a hearing in which legislators learnt of a "massive intelligence failure" in intelligence management, information gathering and dissemination ahead of the September 11 attacks.

Many of those problems still plague key intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Security Agency (NSA), said Representative Saxby Chambliss, who chairs the terrorism and homeland security panel of the House Intelligence committee.

Chambliss and his Democratic counterpart, Jane Harman, led a House oversight team, which examined the terrorist threat to the United States and the counter terrorism capabilities of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement.

Their conclusions were made public in July, though 90% of the document remained classified. Thursday was the first time they were publicly questioned on the report.

Lawmakers are gearing up this session for debates on politically hot issues - including pension reform, energy, and the makeup of the Department of Homeland Security - as well as key congressional elections on November 5.

In this year's election campaign, which by tradition kicked off on September 2, all 435 seats in the House and 34 seats in the Senate are up for grabs.

This is the second time in 202 years that lawmakers have convened outside Washington, D.C. In 1987, Congress held a session in Philadelphia to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Great Compromise creating the House and the Senate, reports CNN.

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