Political Quotes

“I am a cosponsor of the Electricity Security and Affordability Act. We have heard a lot of rhetoric on the floor about what is going on, but I want you to understand something. In Pennsylvania, over 40 percent of the electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants. If you go back to the election, during his candidacy the President said very clearly that if you want to continue to produce electricity using coal-powered power plants, you can, but we will bankrupt you. The only thing he didn't add to that was ``period.'' That is the war on coal. That is where we are going. When we talk about these things, and we talk about the numbers of people in our society right now, not just the middle- and the lower middle-income, but the low-income people, what are we affecting? Everything that they put in their mouth, everything they put on their backs, everything that they do to heat and light their homes. The sum total of the cost of anything is everything that goes into it. The cost of energy and using coal to get there just makes sense. Coal has done so much for this country for so many years. I am not just talking about a few people. If you do not believe this is affecting people, please come back to western Pennsylvania. Walk with me. Go into these little towns where there no longer is a coal mine open. Not only that--their towns are shut down. Now isn't that a marvelous thing to accomplish and champion and say we are doing the right thing for America?…”