Political Quotes

“I thank my friend and colleague from West Virginia. I appreciate his passion for this issue. Over the years, he has fought hard for miners in every different respect, as has his colleague from West Virginia who is in the chair right now, Senator Capito. They need us right now. He is absolutely right. We have a bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate that provides for essentially the bankruptcy of Puerto Rico, right? I am not being critical of that legislation. I know Puerto Rico needs help, but I also know the people I represent need help, as do the people these two Senators represent and Senator Brown who spoke earlier. All we are asking for is give us a chance. We have legislation that has been carefully crafted with the United Mine Workers, with the coal companies on a bipartisan basis. This is legislation that is fiscally responsible. My own view, for what it is worth, is that if we don't help now, it is very likely there could be later a need for significant funding from the taxpayers. Why? Unfortunately, because we are in a situation now, where because of all these bankruptcies of all these coal companies--and we could talk about the policies toward the coal companies and the policies toward coal in this country, but the reality is, there are a lot of companies in places like Ohio and West Virginia and Virginia and other States out West that are either in bankruptcy or heading toward bankruptcy.…”