Political Quotes

“I rise today to engage in a colloquy with my colleagues on a bipartisan bill that we have been working on, one of the most important pieces of legislation that we have before us today. Basically, 16,000 retired miners and their widows are counting on this to be done. If we don't do it by the end of the year, 16,000 miners will lose their health care benefits at the end of this year. Another 3,500 miners will lose their health care at the end of March of next year, and another 3,500 will lose it by July. So 23,000 miners' lives are at stake. This is a piece of legislation that fulfills a commitment and a promise we made starting back in 1946, 1950, 1974, 1990, 1992, 1993, and 2006. So basically, we as a government, we as lawmakers here have understood the value of the coal that has been produced by the Coal Miners of America and the United Mine Workers and this is to fulfill the promise that we made back in 1946 for what they have done from the start of the century--in the early 1900s--providing energy in a very difficult and tough way and then, basically, being able to guarantee a pension and a retirement plan to keep this country moving forward. That is what this is about. If we don't fulfill this promise to the people who have given us the life we have and the superpower status and the freedoms we enjoy, then I would say God help us all.…”