[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H1088]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TAMMY BATEMAN'S STORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Jenkins) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, every West Virginian knows 
about the consequences of the war on coal. We see it everywhere we go: 
mines are closing; school districts are laying off employees; county 
commissions are forced to lay off deputy sheriffs; retailers are going 
out of business; mom-and-pop stores are struggling, barely able to hang 
on.
  A pink slip doesn't mean just a loss of a job. It means a loss of a 
way of life; it means hard choices; and for some it means having to 
leave West Virginia entirely to find work elsewhere. The war on coal is 
killing West Virginia jobs.
  Tammy Bateman and her family had to make a difficult decision. It 
changed the life of every member of her family, in particular that of 
her daughter. Tammy is a West Virginia coal voice. This is her family.
  Here is what Tammy wrote to me:
  ``My husband worked for Cecil Walker Machinery for over 20 years at 
the Logan branch in West Virginia. We have lived here for all of our 
lives.
  ``Due to the declining coal industry, we had to move to another State 
and move our daughter from the school that she loves.
  ``We have a lot of friends and family that have either had to pack up 
and move away also and some that have stayed and have been laid off and 
are suffering.
  ``This is all due to Obama's war on coal. You see, when coal is 
affected, so are small businesses, schools, and much more, especially 
people's livelihoods.''
  Mr. Speaker, the people of my district want to work. They want a 
paycheck to provide for their families. They want a better future for 
their children.
  Thanks to the war on coal, thanks to the EPA's regulations putting 
coal mines out of business, West Virginians are suffering. This 
administration needs to put West Virginians back to work, not put West 
Virginians out of work.

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