[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12949]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             AMERICAN JOBS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, if Senate Democrats were half as 
concerned about American jobs as they are about saving their own jobs 
this November, there would be almost no limit to what we could 
accomplish. Yet, rather than work with us to get anything serious 
accomplished for our constituents, we see the majority leader once 
again bowing to the whims of his campaign consultants and the Senate 
becoming little more than a campaign studio this week.
  The majority leader can spend all of his time fighting for the 
consultant class if he wants, but that will not stop Republicans from 
offering commonsense, job-saving ideas that both sides should be able 
to support. For example, the senior Senator from Utah will offer an 
amendment that would repeal a Democratic tax that helped push 
manufacturing overseas and could kill as many as 165,000 American jobs. 
It is a measure that would likely pass if the majority leader would 
only allow a vote. I know some of our friends on the other side plan to 
offer amendments too. The question is, Will those Senators join us to 
demand that their amendments be considered too or will they allow the 
majority leader to shut down the legislative process one more time, 
silencing their constituents. I hope they will make the right decision.
  Since the majority leader seems so determined to convince everyone 
that he cares about protecting American jobs this week, I am going to 
offer an opportunity to prove he is serious about it. He can do it by 
allowing a vote or even voting himself for an amendment of mine called 
the Saving Coal Jobs Act. He has already blocked this bill once before, 
but I will give him a chance to reconsider.
  Everyone knows the administration's war on coal jobs is little more 
than an elitist crusade that threatens to undermine Kentucky's 
traditionally low utility rates, splinter our manufacturing base, and 
ship well-paying jobs overseas. My amendment seeks to push back against 
this war on coal, this war on ordinary American livelihoods, and it 
seeks to help protect the administration's targets too--Kentucky coal 
families who want little more than to put food on the table and give 
their children a better life. It is really not too much to ask. So the 
majority leader has a choice. Is he in favor of shipping Kentucky jobs 
overseas or will he help me protect the middle class by supporting this 
amendment?
  Regardless of what he decides, though, I am going to keep fighting 
against this administration's unfair regulations. Yesterday the EPA 
Administrator came to Capitol Hill to defend the administration's 
extreme proposed energy regulations. She tried to assure legislators 
that the administration wanted input from the public as it went about 
developing and implementing its job-killing agenda. But it is hard to 
take her seriously because earlier this week I met with her in person 
and urged her to hold at least one listening session in coal country, 
the region most likely to be affected by the administration's 
regulations. She was unmoved. Apparently the Obama administration isn't 
all that interested in what Kentucky thinks. Well, if Washington 
officials won't come to Kentucky, then Kentuckians will come to 
Washington. Beginning next week, the administration plans to hold one 
of its listening sessions in Washington. I plan to testify and so do 
several of my constituents. Even though they will have to travel 
hundreds of miles to get here, these Kentuckians will make Washington 
understand they are more than just some statistic. They are our 
neighbors, they are moms and dads, and they refuse to be collateral 
damage in some elitist war dreamed up in a bureaucratic boardroom in 
Washington.

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