Political Quotes

“I see my colleague from Texas. Did he want to make remarks in leader time? Madam President, I come to the floor to talk about the action today in the Senate, which is to try to overrun the clean water rule as it relates to the mining industry. The bottom line is, polluters should pay for the pollution, and that is what the rule says, and that is what is trying to be overrun today after a very short debate in the Senate. Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would like to say it is about the coal industry and a war on coal. If they are so concerned about the coal industry, I would suggest to them and coal workers that they take up the pension bill they promised to take up in the last Congress and have failed to take up. Last December, thousands of coal miners came to Washington, DC, and asked the Senate to live up to their promise that was made and put their health on the line and make sure that they had a pension program. More than 20,000 retired coal miners are at risk of losing their health care if we do nothing by April, and they have a very small pension-- averaging about $530 a month--that is also at risk. I know some of my colleagues would like to believe this is somehow entirely related to a war on coal, but that narrative ignores the facts. In 2008, right before the financial crisis, the United Mine Workers' pension plan was 93 percent funded--in 2008, 93 percent funded.…”