Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am proud to stand here with my colleagues and friends--Senator Manchin from West Virginia, Senator Casey from Pennsylvania, Senator Brown from Ohio, and, shortly after me, Senator Wyden from Oregon--to echo what has already been said. Senator Brown said it best. He wears that canary pin. If we don't act now, if we don't hear that call and respond to it, then the basic promise and premise that so much of our country is founded on will really be crushed. I join my colleagues in standing up and urging the Senate to pass the Miners Protection Act. We have mines--just as in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia--in southwest Virginia. Quite honestly, I think, as do my colleagues, that no one fully understands what it is like to mine coal until you have been underground, until you see the enormous challenges and conditions that men and women--mostly men--worked under for decades to power our Nation. Senator Manchin often recites the history of this proud industry. But that industry has gone through dramatic changes. Some of those changes are due to activities of certain companies that may or may not have been responsible. Some of these changes are because of a desire of many of us, frankly, on this side of the aisle, to make sure that we find cleaner ways to use energy. In a way, that is good. But it has meant that many of these coal companies and many of these operators that continue to mine what powered America are under enormous fiscal stress.…”