Political Quotes

“Madam President, I know everyone is squeezed for time, but I thank Senator Manchin for his leadership, the Presiding Officer, the other Senator from West Virginia, Mrs. Capito, and Senator Portman, my friend from Cincinnati. We all know how serious this is. We are all willing in this body to do--at least the four of us and I know also Senator Casey and Senator Warner--whatever it takes to get this fixed. We know we can do this for our Nation's retired coal miners who are on the brink of losing their health care and retirement savings. This Congress can pull them back from that. The UMW health care and pension plan covers 100,000 workers, 6,800 people in Senator Portman's and my State. The plans were almost completely funded before the financial collapse of almost a decade ago, but the industry's pension funds were devastated by the recession. We know if Congress fails to act, thousands of retired miners could lose their health care this year and the entire plan would fall as early as 2017. For every one of those years where mine workers worked for decades and decades in the mines, they earned and contributed to their retiree health care plans and their pension plans--benefits they fought for.…”