“Any attempt by Democrats to blame someone else is just a distraction. They want to hide the simple fact that it is their intentional and intensive campaign against coal that has led us to where we are today, on the brink of a government shutdown tonight.”
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding Senate Democrats threatening to shut down the federal government over an extension of a health plan for coal miners.
Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:
“In just a few hours, funding for the federal government will run out.
“It looks like we’re going to blow through that deadline right here in the United States Senate.
“Politico, one of the local newspapers, had an article this morning, and this is what the headline said: They ran an article with a headline ‘Democrats push government toward shutdown.’
“The article says that: ‘Democrats are pushing the government to the brink of a shutdown, with coal country Senate Democrats leading a strategy to oppose a GOP spending bill if their demands aren’t met for a longer extension of expiring health care benefits for coal miners.’
“We’re talking about a continuing resolution that passed the House with overwhelming numbers and it was bipartisan support. The vote was 326 to 96.
“Republicans and Democrats joining together in the House to keep the government open. But not the Senate Democrats.
“Now the continuing resolution that’s being asked to be voted on, actually includes money to help these miners well into the new year through April. We’re going to be looking at everything in the legislation again when it expires in April.
“So there’s no rush to settle this issue today. But here we are in Senate, with Democrats preparing to shut down the government of the United States.
“Our goal should not be to bail out a union health plan—and it’s a fund that does have problems.
“The solution ought to be to let coal miners mine coal again. Let them go back to what they know how to do, mine coal.
“That’s a way they can take care of themselves and take care of their own.
“I want to be really clear on this point. The only reason we’re in the position we are today, is because the Obama administration and Democrats in Washington have been waging a war on coal for the past eight years.
“In 2008, when Barack Obama was running for president, he promised that that’s what he was going to do. He said it.
“He said that under his policies, ‘If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them.’
“Once he got into office, he did everything that he could to keep that promise – and bankrupt as many coal companies as possible. That’s actually what happened.
“His administration has pushed out one unnecessary regulation after another on coal producers, on power plants, and on customers.
“The Environmental Protection Agency wrote new regulations on power plant emissions that when the emissions go from one state over to another.
“The agency put out extremely stringent rules on emissions from any new power plants that are built in this country.
“Then they wrote tough rules on the power plants that were already in existence.
“The Obama administration hasn’t just tried to bankrupt anyone who used coal. They’ve been doing all they can to make sure that the coal never gets out of the ground.
“The Bureau of Land Management imposed a moratorium on new mining leases on federal land. And in the Rocky Mountain West, that’s a significant amount of the land. And in many states its over half of the land.
“And the Obama administration has been doing all they can to make sure that American coal can’t be used not just here in America, but can’t be used anywhere in the world.
“The Department of the Interior wrote a new rule on coal valuation, to discourage coal exports.
“The Army Corps of Engineers has even delayed or denied permits for new coal export terminals – so we can ship a product that is produced in the United States to people who want to buy our product overseas.
“The Obama administration even worked to get the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to stop financing new coal fired power plants in developing nations. Even though for them it’s the least expensive cost for electricity, for energy, for the people there that don’t have energy and desperately need it.
“It’s been one roadblock after another for the last eight years. Layer after layer of red tape, strangling the coal industry and coal miners.
“And now someone wants to say the issue is bailing out one union health plan and pension fund?
“The Democrats have waged an all-out, comprehensive war on coal. That’s why we’re in this situation.
“The administration has blocked coal production. They’ve made it more expensive.
“Then they’ve tried to use the smaller market for coal—since you can’t mine it, you can’t sell it, you can’t export it—so there is a smaller market for coal and they use that as an excuse to impose even more burdens.
“The people who are hurt by these policies are hard-working Americans who just want to go to work make a living and support their families.
“That’s what the coal miners have been up against by the Obama administration in the last eight years.
“Any attempt by Democrats to blame someone else is just a distraction. They want to hide the simple fact that it is their intentional and intensive campaign against coal that has led us to where we are today, on the brink of a government shutdown tonight.
“Health and pension funds can pay benefits for retired workers as long as the mines are actually working and they can mine coal, and sell coal and make money.
“If the money coming in goes down, then the money that they need to pay out is not there.
“Companies can’t meet their obligations. And it’s the Democrat policies that have caused it.
“If Democrats want to help retired miners, they should let the other miners get back to work. Well that’s not what they’ve done.
“This administration, the Obama administration has done all they can to destroy the market for coal, to force mines to cut production, and to put miners out of work.
“I understand that there are people in the home states of these senators who are very worried—and they have a right to be worried.
“Let’s just be honest about the real reason these people are hurting.
“Miners are struggling because President Obama has been standing on their necks for a straight period of eight years.
“When Democrats focus on things like health benefits for retirees, they’re missing the point entirely – and they’re just trying to dodge the responsibility for their own disastrous policies.”
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