Political Quotes

“as a cosponsor of this legislation, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2108, the Black Lung Benefits Restoration Act. Mr. Chairman, western Pennsylvania is coal country. Thousands of our neighbors there worked in the coal mines and now many of them are afflicted with black lung. We know that black lung is caused by overexposure to coal dust. It is a terrible disease, and bad enough by itself. But when black lung is combined with the paper work, red tape, and bureaucracy that a victim must face in trying to obtain benefits, the situation becomes almost overwhelming. In one of my district offices, a caseworker is working on a black lung case that is 20 years old. That is wrong. This legislation will help ease the burden of those afflicted with black lung and restore the fairness to the black lung benefits system that has been missing since the early 1980's. H.R. 2108 would change the requirement that beneficiaries must repay interim benefits if they are denied regular black lung benefits and provides for survivors benefits for widows of black lung beneficiaries. The bill places reasonable limits on what potential beneficiaries must provide as evidence of a claim. The legislation also provides for the designation of a ``responsible operator'' or mining company responsible for black lung benefits payment and allows for reasonable attorney's fees to be paid by that operator.”