Joe Manchin

The miners in West Virginia, and all over this country, have done the heavy lifting for our country.

I was one of the 12 Democratic cosponsors along with 12 Republican cosponsors for a major fix on healthcare.

It is critical that Federal dollars are focused where there is strong evidence and a return on investment rather than on duplicative systems that do not guarantee quality training and provide fewer safeguards for workers and employers.

The Registered Apprenticeship program is a top priority of mine, which is why I am very pleased we were able to increase the funding by over 50 percent in the 2018 omnibus.

The President's budget would mean that millions of workers, including dislocated coalminers and veterans, could lose access to these critical services next year.

I introduced the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act with Senator Casey and a few others.

We just want to make sure you do not move everything to Alaska.

The sacred mission of serving our veterans and their families has always transcended personal and political agendas--or political affiliations.

What plan do you have in recruiting, especially in rural areas...

The Appalachia Development Highway System was created in that very spirit, aiming to open up rural America to the world.

When Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in 1964, Appalachia was isolated from much of the country.

Shelley and I have to keep a state running, too.

We'd like to finish some that have been going on for so long.

Without some assistance and some help, rural America... only percent is getting helped.

The needs of our little State, rural States have so much.

Corridor H is a corridor that John Kennedy made happen and I'm taking you back a ways.

This is a period of time that they either make it or break it and it's been going on for 51 years.

It's not a political football. It's basically an American problem that we all have and we're working together on that.

We have expanded with good intentions, made a lot of benefits.

My final question is going to be since 1998, the VA's budget has quadrupled from $42.38 billion to $188.65 billion.

I hope that you agree that this type of behavior undermines the VA's mission, and it does a disservice to the millions of veterans who rely upon VA services.

We are seeing political interest groups given a seat at the table instead of veterans service organizations.

So we're facing the same, if not worse?

Well, if that's the case then we have a nuclear weapons retaliation policy; shouldn't we have a cyber retaliation policy?

As a result of the Russians meddling in 2016, I'd fought to ensure the bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee included a directive for DHS to provide technical assistance to State and local law enforcement to secure…