The visits to West Virginia and going underground, I think, does really make you realize what a tough job coalmining is.

The average coalminer, or most of them, are widows who are receiving these pensions, only $595 a month.

the Registered Apprenticeship program is a top priority of mine, which is why I am very pleased we were able to increase the funding by over 50 percent in the 2018 omnibus.

It is very disturbing because the President has proposed cutting this $45 million from Special Benefits for Disabled Coal Miners.

I was one of the 12 Democratic cosponsors along with 12 Republican cosponsors for a major fix on healthcare.

It is critical that Federal dollars are focused where there is strong evidence and a return on investment rather than on duplicative systems that do not guarantee quality training and provide fewer safeguards for workers and employers.

I can guarantee you, the black lung disease will continue to increase. This is the only way we had to fight that and to try to stop it.

The other thing we have is the Dislocated Worker Grants to help fight the opioid epidemic, and you know it is just a horrible tragedy on our country.

I introduced the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act with Senator Casey and a few others.

I applaud you for these grants, and I urge you to bring one of those pilot programs to West Virginia.

the President's budget would mean that millions of workers, including dislocated coalminers and veterans, could lose access to these critical services next year.

I am concerned about some of the proposed rollbacks. I know the funding has been increased, but some of the rollbacks of the safety measures, especially air quality standards, I am very much concerned about that.

The miners in West Virginia, and all over this country, have done the heavy lifting for our country.

Since the beginning of 2017, 19 miners have died in America, coalminers. Ten of them have been in my State and Senator Capito's State of West Virginia.

The sacred mission of serving our veterans and their families has always transcended personal and political agendas--or political affiliations.

We just want to make sure you do not move everything to Alaska.

My final question is going to be since 1998, the VA's budget has quadrupled from $42.38 billion to $188.65 billion.

we'd like to finish some that have been going on for so long.