[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUPPORTING RECLAIM ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Jenkins) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JENKINS of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, coal communities in my 
district and across America and across Appalachia are struggling. The 
war on coal has decimated many small towns and left thousands of 
hardworking coal miners without jobs.
  Help is on the way--the RECLAIM Act, introduced by Congressman Hal 
Rogers. I am proud to be a sponsor with him.
  The RECLAIM Act will send $1 billion in Federal funds to Appalachia 
to revitalize and diversify coal communities and to create new jobs. 
For West Virginia, that means nearly $200 million over 5 years to 
invest in our coalfields. This money will allow us to redevelop 
abandoned mine lands, bring new companies and industries to West 
Virginia, and provide more jobs for our people.
  Now, the RECLAIM Act doesn't mean we are giving up on coal. Far from 
it. Coal is our heritage and must play an important part in our State's 
future. But while we are bringing back our coal jobs, we must also look 
at how we can redevelop these former mine sites.
  Many of these sites are currently sitting vacant, and our towns and 
counties just don't have the funds to redevelop these sites so that 
their job-creating potential can be unleashed. The RECLAIM Act will 
prioritize hard hit States like West Virginia and help employ hundreds 
of laid-off West Virginians to prepare these sites for new developments 
and new industries.
  In addition, once these sites are open for business, new employers 
will create hundreds, if not thousands, of good-paying jobs. The 
RECLAIM Act can be and should be part of the solution to revitalize our 
coal fields.
  I want to say thank you to Leader McConnell and Senator Capito in the 
Senate for their leadership on this measure as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to 
join us in supporting this important legislation and helping 
Appalachia.

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