Political Quotes

“Mr. President, first, I wish to reemphasize how much I respect Senator Enzi, the senior Senator from Wyoming, and the fact that he is quite right about the MINER Act and what took place after Sago, which was another rural spot in West Virginia where a number of people were killed--a lot of anguish--and it was the first time in 30 years that there had been any revision of the Federal mine safety laws. I have to say, though, that the bill we passed, the MINER Act, was not fully--because it had to pass through the committee at that time that was controlled by the present minority, it did not come out as strongly as I would have preferred. However, it was a good bill and has had a good effect in mining. One of the aspects of mining, which is hard for people to understand, is that there is no margin for error. There is no margin for it. It is a discreet industry, which, for the most part, is carried on out of sight--in this case, underground. The great majority--I would say well over 95 percent--of West Virginians and people from the Presiding Officer's State have never been underground--or I guess sometimes Senators and Congressmen and Cabinet officers. Obviously, I am disappointed that my colleague objected to this bill. However, I very much believe Senator Enzi when he said that he wants to start working on a bill that will keep people safe. I point out to him that at no point did we call off the negotiations.…”