Political Quotes

“I rise to speak as well about the issue of pensions, as many of my colleagues have been speaking about tonight. First of all, I want to outline a series of what I believe to be promises that the Senate and the House must keep with large segments of the American people. Last year at this time, we were in a long debate, which had transpired over months, and the main issue there was healthcare for retired coal miners and their families. This was a promise made to coal miners across the country--thousands of them across the country and thousands in Pennsylvania alone--who were promised they would have healthcare in their retirement. That promise went unfulfilled despite the fact that we got a bill through the Senate Finance Committee, as we were instructed to do, to follow so-called regular order--have a hearing, have a vote, get it through the committee--but it was held up month after month, really from the fall of 2016 until April of 2017. That promise almost went unfulfilled, and it took far too long, but eventually we got it done. At that time, we made another promise to those same coal miners that we would work on the pension issue for them. That was the second half of the original legislation. When it comes to promises, we have promises to keep to those Americans who worked so hard in the most difficult job in the world. We also have some promises that must be fulfilled.…”