[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16959]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SUPPORTING THE UMWA ON COAL MINE MEMORIAL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the United 
Mineworkers of America (UMWA) who over the last two days have been 
participating in a coal mine memorial.
  The UMWA has called for a nationwide two-day memorial, shutting down 
all the union mines in the U.S. to symbolize the importance of a 
federal court decision expected sometime this week. This decision has 
the potential to impact the fate of health care benefits for 250 
working miners at the Zeigler 11 mine near Coulterville, Illinois and 
hundreds of retired coal miners in my congressional district.
  These people have worked hard to earn benefits and a pension to 
sustain them and their families through retirement. Yet, the way our 
laws are structured, we allow companies to get out of their 
responsibilities to these hardworking Americans and their families. 
This is unfortunately happening more and more across our country and it 
needs to stop.
  Health care has gone from a matter of concern to a crisis of major 
proportion. Seniors are splitting their pills to make their medications 
last. People will not go to a doctor because they cannot afford it. We 
have more than 40 million people who are uninsured. Health care has 
become a crisis in America.
  There is a historical commitment to providing health care for retired 
coal miners and we must continue that commitment. Mr. Speaker, the 
people that are in jeopardy of losing their health care spent their 
careers producing the energy which powers this nation. We must not turn 
our backs on them now. We must not allow them to be robbed of the 
health care they so desperately deserve and need.

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