Political Quotes

“Reform with justice in the black lung benefits program is long overdue, and hopefully, with passage of this legislation today, and I might say without gutting amendments, it will bring us a lot closer to justice for senior citizens in the coal fields of our country. Only a minuscule amount of applicants, less than 5 percent of deserving applicants, are ever certified for this program. Especially tragic is a longstanding Department of Labor practice of demanding immediate repayment of sums for benefits paid under the interim benefit procedure. One elderly widow in my district in southwestern Indiana was told by the Bush Department of Labor to repay $60,000 in interim benefits or she would be turned over to private bill collectors. I ask my colleagues, 'Can you imagine the stress and strain imposed on people in their late sixties, seventies, and eighties being told within 60 or 70 days they are going to have to pay 30, 40, 50, 60, $70,000 out or face the consequences, and in at least one case it has resulted in the loss of a home in my district, in the Eighth District of Indiana, to a miner's estate. Black lung sufferers are senior citizens. They certainly do not have the resources or the energy to be at constant battle with the system.”