[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 4, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H58]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MINERS' PENSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Jenkins) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, in this new year, we must 
make things right for our miners and their widows. We must act now to 
keep the promise. We must honor their work in the mines by protecting 
the pensions and healthcare benefits they worked their whole lives to 
earn.
  We must pass legislation I have cosponsored to protect these hard-
earned benefits for families like Rita Blankenship of McDowell County 
who wrote me asking for help. Here is what she said: ``My husband was 
promised healthcare coverage in 1975 when he went to work in the mines 
and joined the union. I am asking if you could do everything possible 
to get this passed so we will have health care,'' she wrote.
  These miners and their families deserve no less than what they worked 
their entire lives to earn: the peace of mind that comes with a pension 
and secure health care.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting legislation to protect 
our miners, their widows, and their families. We owe it to them to keep 
our word.

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