Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Saturday that his experience as New York City’s mayor during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is a big reason why he supports a national insurance backup fund.

“Maybe I feel more strongly about this because of what I went through as mayor. I don’t even know how to describe Sept. 11. I don’t know if catastrophe is even the right word,” Giuliani said. “There’s no possible way we could have gotten through that alone. No possible way.”

A national catastrophe fund is a top federal priority for Gov. Charlie Crist and two Democratic congressmen from Florida, Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney, have a bill that passed the House which would create a the backup fund in hopes of making property insurance more affordable and accessible.

“I more than most realize how important it was to us to have federal help, federal backup,” Giuliani said during a town hall meeting at a senior center. “Look, it’s going to be there because of the kind of people we are. We might as well try to organize it in a sensible way.”