Secretary of State John Kerry spent the day in Washington testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees about next year’s State Department budget.
But it was clear that the Boston Marathon attack was first and foremost on his mind. Similar to his emotional remarks yesterday in front of the House committees, the former senator from Massachusetts began his prepared testimony reflecting on his home state and the people of Boston.
“It is no secret that my heart and my head are in Boston today with the president, with the families, with a lot of friends. There is a memorial service there, and I’m grateful to the president for going up there. I wish I could be there with him, but I need to be here and I understand that and I respect the needs to continue,” Kerry told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday morning.
He praised the president’s speech in his testimony before the appropriations committee on Thursday afternoon.
“I thought he was magnificent, gave a great, great speech, touched the hearts of everybody and captured Boston,” said Kerry.
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The secretary also remarked on the global nature of the attack, expressing his condolences for the families of the victims who were killed and singling out the death of Lingzi LuI, the Boston University graduate student from China, a country Kerry just visited a few days ago.
“We lost a citizen of another country, a young Chinese girl studying in Boston, a graduate student, who went there with her friends to watch the marathon and take part in this fabulous Patriot’s Day rite that if nobody’s ever experienced it … they’ll be back, and there will be a bigger, better one next year,” said Kerry, defiantly. “And we’ll celebrate that spirit.”