Political Quotes

“I rise today in defense of the bipartisan Miners Protection Act. This is a little bit of a history class that is going to be rolled into the facts of what we are dealing with today. Our coal miners are some of the hardest working people in America. Any of you who come from a family who had one as a relative--maybe your grandfather, father, uncle--you know those patriarchs are tough. They are hard-working but extremely patriotic. They basically dedicated their lives to powering our Nation. We would not be the Nation we are today if it had not been for the miners, who now seem to have been cast aside and forgotten about. They powered this Nation. They brought us into the Industrial Revolution, if you will, the industrial age, and created the middle class and one of the largest unions, the United Mine Workers of America. Back in the 1930s and 1940s, especially, if you were working in the mines, you were in the United Mine Workers union. That is just the way things were. But by the end of this year, tens of thousands of our miners are going to receive notices that they are going to lose their health benefits. They are going to lose their health benefits. I have come to the floor again to answer the points that were called into question by my friend Senator Enzi from Wyoming. First, Senator Enzi specifically questioned the promise that was made to the miners in 1946.…”