Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague. Mr. President, I rise to speak about what the Senior Senator from Virginia just spoke about, and that is the miners' healthcare. We have complete action at long last. This should have been done in December, when we were pleading with the majority leader at the time to get it done then. But we are happy we are at this point now, where one of two--one promise has been fulfilled, and that is the promise of permanent, guaranteed healthcare for thousands, tens of thousands of miners across the country. In my home State, the last count was 1,955. Let's round it off to 2,000--a lot of families. We are grateful we are at this point. I do want to reiterate what Senator Warner said about our colleague from West Virginia, Senator Manchin. He is right. Joe Manchin brought this up at every meeting over the course of many, many months and several years. We are grateful for the leadership he demonstrated and grateful that he kept us all focused. I thank all of our colleagues who worked on this. I think, initially, going back years ago, before Senator Manchin was in the Senate, Senator Rockefeller was raising this issue. This really has been around a long time--for at least 5 years. We heard this morning from Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, who talked about this 5-year fight. I commend and salute Senator Manchin.…”