Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2007
Floor Speech
SUPPLEMENTAL MINE IMPROVEMENT AND NEW EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - January 16, 2008)
Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the S-MINER Act because it will quite simply and without doubt save the lives of innocent Americans. It could have saved the life of my fellow Kentuckian, Jimmy Lee, whose widow Melissa I met this past year. She courageously came to us for help because, though it was too late to save her Jimmy, we still had the chance to prevent more loving spouses from becoming courageous widows.
Yesterday, Melissa and 27 other Kentuckians sent me a letter. Each has lost a father, son or husband in a preventable mine disaster, and each urges the implementation of this legislation.
I found it very interesting to listen to my colleague from across the aisle, the gentleman from Alaska. And he used the term on a number of occasions, a nail in the coffin: And this is what we're talking about.
In my case, today, I'm talking about a letter from 28 Kentuckians who had to put their relatives, their loved ones in coffins and bury them because this government has not done what it can and should do to protect them.
In any event, the White House threatens a veto, not so much because it disagrees, but because the Department of Labor still hasn't implemented the last law. Congress is here to act when bureaucracies drag their feet. And here the consequences of the administration stonewalling are disastrous.
This is one of those choices we face in this era. We face the decision between money and lives. And as I said during the hearing when we looked into the Darby disaster and Sago and Crandall Canyon, we need to have a country and a government that value the lives of the miners as much as what they bring out of the ground. That's what this legislation is all about. That's what we stand here to do. And that's why I congratulate the chairman for his courageous act and his passion for this cause.
So with that, I urge my colleagues and the President to join me in supporting the Supplemental Mining Improvement and New Emergency Response Act. And I urge them to begin saving lives today.
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