Joe Manchin

I think Senator Heinrich's been very clear in where he's coming from, what he's trying to do and it really affects all of us because I think all of us have constituents that want access and want to be able to have access to the lands their…

It's a good piece of legislation. It should pass.

The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests and Mining will come to order.

I have long been an advocate for increased hunting and fishing opportunities on Federal lands.

I introduced H.R. 2166, the Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act.

We're going to have to pass this legislation now. We're going to have to go for the jugular, OK?

I would like to be clear that neither of these examples is intended to be an indictment of the men and women who work at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

If this subcommittee reported in favor of a bill and do everything that's just been introduced today that we would have the sense of the Energy Committee sent to your respected agencies of what we wanted to have accomplish without passing…

Senator Barrasso is one of the original co-sponsors.

Senator McCaskill and I are the authors of it. We have 7 Democrats on board now including the Chair, Senator Landrieu.

I came to the floor to speak on these two commonsense pieces of legislation. My dear friends Senator Shaheen and Senator Portman--Democrat and Republican--have worked so hard in a bipartisan way, which we don't always see anymore on the…

It is unacceptable that they still face the threat of black lung disease.

I can't help but believe that greed and the desire to reap large profits lead some coal companies to fight against miners and the government.

The Democratic majority in Congress, along with President Obama, has taken action in recent years to improve our Black Lung system.

The Administration should be commended for taking this major step forward.

When we tried to pass a reasonable piece of legislation--the Byrd bill--to strengthen our mine safety laws... we were blocked by the coal industry and their allies in Congress.

Justice delayed is often justice denied for coal miners suffering the debilitating effects of Black Lung disease.

Too often our miners face insurmountable obstacles to access benefits they have undeniably earned.

We need to work together to do everything in our power to end black lung and I appreciate the committee recognizing this need.

I appreciate the Department's willingness to take steps to make sure that miners can access the Federal benefits they deserve.

This rise in Black Lung disease is unacceptable. Congress and the Administration have a solemn obligation to provide coal miners with every protection from this debilitating, incurable, but preventable disease.

Congress has long known that coal miners with Black Lung disease are at a tremendous disadvantage when attempting to access Federal benefits.

I want to thank a longtime and dedicated member of my staff, Travis Mollohan, and to wish him the best on his next professional venture--as director of State, corporate and community relations for West Virginia University. Raised by caring…

Importantly our bill would improve the way wildfire suppression is funded without increasing Federal funding.

Our bill would better limit the reallocation of resources away from fire prevention and hazardous fuels reduction projects which reduce the cycle of costly fires.