Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Floor Speech

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Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, as the Presiding Officer knows very well, we have been asking for passage of the Miners Protection Act not just for our State of West Virginia but for all miners across America, as well as the retired miners who have done everything that has been asked of them.

We have some of our colleagues here today. At this time, if I can--if my other colleagues will allow me--I will defer right now to Senator Brown from Ohio, since he has other commitments. He will be coming back and forth. If he could go ahead and get started at this time, then I will come back and defer to our other colleague from Ohio.

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Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, if I can, I will give a little background and then we will go right to Senator Portman.

I thank the Senator from Ohio. I appreciate it very much.

The Presiding Officer understands very well. We are both from the same State, born and raised there, and tough times have always been a part of our DNA.

So people know the history of the mines, as to the coal that has been produced, we would not be the country we are today, we would not be the superpower of the world, if we didn't have domestic energy in our backyard. Domestic energy was the coal we used to fuel the Industrial Revolution. We basically defended ourselves in every war with coal. It was so important during World War II that if you were a coal miner, you would be asked to be deferred from fighting in the war to provide the energy the country needed to defend itself. That is how important this product has been.

Today it is kind of taboo to talk about it. People don't understand we have the life we have because of it. There is a transition going on and we understand that, but, in 1946, President Harry Truman said that we can't have the miners go on strike. John L. Lewis was going to take the miners out on strike for unfair compensation and safety reasons. Harry Truman promised them if they would stay--it was so important for our economy after World War II to keep moving forward, and without the energy, we couldn't do it. So he said: If you all will settle this strike, I will make sure everybody who produces coal--all the miners will pay into a pension fund that will guarantee that you will have health care benefits when you retire and a very meager pension. We are not talking big money. We are talking very meager supplements.

That was committed to and paid for. It had been funded all the way up until the greed of Wall Street in 2008, and it fell apart. Now, here we have the time. We go right up to the end of the time. Every time we go up to this timetable.

Well, July 1 is Puerto Rico, and then let me tell my colleagues one thing: July 15, all the retirees will start receiving notices that they will start losing their health care benefits within 90 days.

If you have seen on television all the devastation to our State in West Virginia, all the flooding, all the misery, the loss of life--one of the largest losses of life in any flooding in U.S. history. It just happened this past week in the State of West Virginia, our beautiful State. Every one of those communities you are seeing on television, with houses on fire floating down the river, with all the businesses ruined, all the homes and all the people who are left with nothing, every one of those are mining communities. Every one of them have miners living in them. Every one of them have widows who probably lost their husband to black lung depending on the health care benefits. Yet we have so many other things, and we are just asking for a vote.

This is a bipartisan bill. Here we are standing on the floor, all of us, not being Democrats or Republicans, just being Americans trying to do the right thing. All we are asking for is a vote on this. It will pass. There are ways for us to pay for it so it does not cost the American taxpayers. That is what we are asking for. I don't think that is too much to ask for.

I have said let's vote no on cloture tomorrow. I am not saying to be for or against Puerto Rico. I understand the situation they are in, but unless we defend and fight for the people who have given us the country we have, and just disregard that, then who are we? What is our purpose for being here?

With that, I yield to my good friend and colleague from Ohio, Senator Portman.

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Mr. MANCHIN. I say thank you to my friend and colleague from Ohio. I thank you so much. You are absolutely correct. Of those 90,000 miners, 27,000 come from my State of West Virginia. When we talk about who are the miners, they are the most patriotic people you ever met. Most of them are veterans. They have given of themselves. They sacrifice and they will continue to do so.

This country still needs a balanced energy policy that works for all of us, and they are willing to do that. They are willing to do the heavy lifting jobs they have always done. They don't ask for a lot of accolades for doing that.

I have another one of our colleagues from the great State of Indiana who knows the mining industry very well. I have been with him, and we have been out talking to them and watching how the product moves and watching how it powers this great country.

With that, I yield to my friend Senator Donnelly from Indiana.

(Mr. PORTMAN assumed the Chair.)

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Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Indiana and the Senator from Ohio, the Presiding Officer, and my colleague from West Virginia.

This is truly a bipartisan bill. As we stand before you, my colleague and I were both born and raised in West Virginia. We come from different political parties, but we have been friends all our lives. The most important thing is that before we became a Republican or a Democrat, we were West Virginians first. Sometimes we might lose sight of that fact amidst all these great people in this great country.

It is time for us to get together and do the right thing. These are the people who have done the heavy lifting all their lives, and all we are asking for is a commonsense piece of legislation that gives to them and protects them with a promise that we made. They worked for this. They paid into this. Their pensions were solvent. No act of their own caused this. We are not asking for a bailout. There is a pay-for and a very easy pay-for.

So with that, I want to recognize my colleague from West Virginia for her dedication and commitment to fight for this. I thank her so much. I yield to Senator Capito from our great State of West Virginia.

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Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, some people say this is a union versus a nonunion issue. That is not the case at all. In 1946, anybody who was mining coal was a member of the United Mine Workers of America, almost 99.9 percent. With that type of participation, having all these people involved--that is the deal that was made. That is the deal Harry Truman, the President of our United States of America, made with John L. Lewis. You have to continue to mine the coal that keeps the country running.

Today, coal has been villainized to the point where people think they don't need it, they don't like it, they don't want it, and it is no good for them. Well, guess what. The coal we use today is cleaner and used cleaner than ever before.

We keep talking about the global climate. I am not a denier. With 7 billion people, I think we have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to clean up the environment. We have done it, and we can do a lot more in America. We can lead the rest of the world--which burns over 7 billion tons of coal--to do it much cleaner if we are serious about it and if we don't just continue to demonize it here in America, its use in America, putting all these people out of work.

My colleague talked about Puerto Rico and its finances. We have sympathy and compassion for anybody who has had difficult times. But we have people who basically gave their sweat, their blood, and their lives for the energy of this country, and their widows and other people are depending on that retirement and they are depending on their health care benefits. Let me tell you the domino effect that will happen. The domino effect is this: If these health care benefits go by the wayside, a lot of the clinics that take care of people throughout West Virginia, throughout the coal industry, throughout the coal counties all across America, are going to be hurting. They are going to be hurting as they try to keep their doors open to take care of the children, the families, the widows--the people who are depending upon them. This has a ripple effect that people don't really consider.

All we are asking of the majority leader, our majority leader--I am respectfully asking him--he comes from the State of Kentucky, and he understands the people of mining. In a compassionate way, I am asking if he would just consider giving us the vote before we leave here.

That is why we are not voting on the Puerto Rico cloture. We have basically next week, and after next week we will be gone for quite a while. These widows and all these retirees will start receiving their notices July 15. We will be out of here on the 16th. What do we tell them? Well, I am sorry we are on vacation. We have all gone home. We all gave up.

The House is gone now. They got in so much conflict, they couldn't take it anymore. They left early. They are not coming back. This is a shame. It is absolutely a shame.

I am almost ashamed to tell--people say: Where do you work?

I say: Oh, I work for the government in Washington.

I will be almost afraid to tell them what body I am in if we can't do better than we are doing.

I am getting so sick and tired of ``If you are a Republican and I am a Democrat, I am supposed to be against you.'' I am not against you; I am with you. I am with this country. I want America to do well. I want the whole world to be envious that we can help other people. But if we can't take care of ourselves, if we can't help the people we have committed to and made a promise to, then why should anyone? Why should anyone look to America?

We are the hope of the world. Well, if we are going to be the hope of the world, we better take care of the people who gave us the country we have; that is, the mine workers of this country, the United Mine Workers of America--the toughest people I have ever been around, the most generous people I have ever been around, and the most compassionate people I have ever been around.

It is our responsibility, Mr. President and my colleagues, to keep our promise to the miners who have answered the call whenever their country needed them. When our country went to war, the miners stayed there and powered us to prosperity. When our economy was stagnant, these miners fueled its growth and expansion. They kept their promise to us, and now it is time for us to do the same. We must keep our promise of a lifetime pension and health benefits to our miners-- something they paid for, something they worked for--for their dedication to our country. That is why I am calling for the immediate passage of the Miners Protection Act.

I appreciate my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is truly a bipartisan effort. I thank the Presiding Officer. I thank each and every one of you. Please talk to colleagues, as we do with all our friends on both sides, and do the right thing and pass the Miners Protection Act.

Family Planning Services
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