[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E57-E58]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DISASTER ON THE HORIZON

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I cannot begin to guess how many times 
throughout my years of service in this institution I have heard my 
colleagues stand on this floor and pay homage to America's workers. I 
could probably paper these walls a dozen times over with the copies of 
speeches delivered here that have praised American working families for 
their contributions to our economy and our culture.
  Patriotism, fairness, loyalty, a belief in hard work--these are just 
some of the qualities I have heard so accurately ascribed to America's 
working families. They are certainly traits deserving of public 
admiration. But I believe that they are also qualities that deserve to 
be preserved and maintained by Congress, because these are the threads 
that form the fabric of American life.
  Today, the quality of life and the core values of America's working 
families are under siege, again, and the work of Congress faces 
unraveling. In particular, I raise the matter of a court decision last 
fall that knocked loose a core underpinning of the Coal Act.
  In horrendous decisions, a federal judge thumbed his nose at 
Congress, and its work to ensure that the federal promise to America's 
miners would be kept. In a wrong-headed decision, that court placed in 
jeopardy the health care of thousands of elderly and ill retired miners 
and their spouses. The case involved Horizon Natural Resources--the 
nation's fourth

[[Page E58]]

largest coal company--which had gone to court to seek a way out of its 
obligations to its workers.
  This was not so much a matter of a company whose tills were empty and 
whose assets were gone. It was, more precisely, a matter of a company 
that wanted the books to look better for prospective buyers who could 
scoop of the existing mines and processing facilities free of the 
weight of Coal Act obligations.
  So Horizon went to court and asked a judge to let it use bankruptcy 
loopholes to circumvent its legal duties to its workers under the Coal 
Act. The company, quite plainly, wanted a seal of approval to turn its 
back on the men and women who had devoted their lives to it. Then, in 
September, almost inconceivably, the judge gave Horizon the final nod. 
It was OK, it was ruled, for an American company to so devalue the 
American worker and to go around the intent of Congress. Horizon could 
merely dump its obligations, and go along its merry way.
  It is not just the workers of Horizon who will suffer. In turn, the 
cost of the benefits legally owed by Horizon have been thrown onto 
already financially strained benefits plans. Consequently, Horizon and 
the courts, have sent a shock wave that jeopardizes the health care 
benefits of thousands of other retirees and beneficiaries. The weight 
of those obligations cannot long be managed in the current scenario. 
And if other companies follow suit, collapse will only be hastened. The 
need for a fix is urgent.
  I have, therefore, joined with Senator Rockefeller in introducing 
legislation intended to address this court decision. My bill will make 
it clear that the benefits and obligations mandated by the Congress 
through the Coal Act cannot be modified by the bankruptcy courts. It 
will, as well, prevent additional companies from trying to circumvent 
the Coal Act through bankruptcy, while leaving others, who play by the 
rules, holding the bag.
  I am all too familiar with the struggles of working men and women in 
our country. I have always believed that a fair day's labor deserves a 
fair day's wages. I believe, too, that a company has certain 
obligations to a faithful worker who has devoted his life to laboring 
for the good of the company. It has been here, in the halls of 
Congress, where these beliefs have found refuge in the form of 
legislation, such as the Coal Act. The bill I introduce today reaffirms 
a federal promise made to America's coal miners and helps to fulfill 
the duty of Congress to America's working families.

                          ____________________