Andy Barr: “I thank the gentleman. I think his comments about the railroads reminds me of a quick story about my district in Estill…”

“I thank the gentleman. I think his comments about the railroads reminds me of a quick story about my district in Estill County, Kentucky, a little town called Ravenna. This community was built on the railroads, and those railroads carried the coal out of Perry County and Harlan County and Bell County and all those counties in southeast Kentucky. This community in my congressional district was built on the railroads. Today, furloughed railroaders, their families are without jobs, without a paycheck, and this is because of the war on coal. One of the furloughed railroaders told me that just a few years ago 120 trains would come through their community full of coal. Now barely 50 come through every month. So this has a real impact for real people, middle class Americans losing their jobs. The war on coal is hurting the American people. Unemployment is higher than the national average in Estill County, Kentucky, because of this President's war on coal. So I thank the gentleman. I would now like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana to talk about coal in Indiana.”