Political Quotes

“Madam President, I thank the Senator from Iowa, Mr. Harkin, for his kind words and also for his great leadership on the HELP Committee. We have a big area we cover--health, education, labor, and pensions--and we have a lot of bills we are working on. I am pleased at the bipartisan way we are able to work on them, his staff and my staff. Actually, the members of the committee are very engaged on the issues we are covering, and they are very important issues for America. MINE SAFETY Madam President, I came to the floor to talk about a little different issue than what we have been talking about, but it is another issue for the HELP Committee. This one comes under that category of labor. It is safety--mine safety. The reason I am on the floor is, I have seen some articles appearing in different parts of the United States that are inaccurate on what is happening on mine safety, and so I wish to take a moment to clear up some of that confusion that has been caused by a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations on the mine safety legislation in this last week. The terrible tragedy that occurred in West Virginia this past April again focused us on the strength of our Federal mine safety laws and regulations. My State leads the Nation in coal production. We do about 40 percent of all the Nation's coal, and my county accounts for most of that. We have 92 trains a day that leave our county. That is over 1 million tons of coal a day.…”