Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the gentleman from Kentucky for hosting us today to talk about coal. As he mentioned, I am from the great State of West Virginia, one of the largest coal-producing States in our Nation, and, historically, some of the largest coal-producing areas of our Nation. As we know, coal is a huge part of the economy in West Virginia. But we also know that energy is a jobs economy. When you're generating energy in any capacity, you're generating jobs. We have over 7.6 percent unemployment across the country, and yet we have a President who wants to pick winners and losers on the energy front. Coal has been one of the President's favorite losers, as we have seen and heard from our colleagues. But there are three reasons I'm standing here today. The first reason I'm here is to stand up for the jobs of tens of thousands of West Virginians, whether that's a coal miner, as you mentioned, transportation, shop owner, electrician, fuel supplier, and all the different jobs that are connected with getting to and burning our Nation's most abundant resource. And I'm very concerned about it. We lost 1,200 jobs in the last quarter of 2012 in West Virginia alone. Secondly, I'm here to stand up to the families and those who are on fixed incomes. As the gentleman from Kentucky brought up, when you think about the largest part for a senior who lives on a fixed income, the most difficult thing for them is the fluctuation in their power bill, whether it's heating or air conditioning.…”