VIDEO: REP. JENKINS: HONOR OUR MINERS BY PROTECTING THEIR PENSIONS

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) urged the new Congress to pass legislation now to protect pensions and healthcare benefits 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’ve cosponsored to protect these hard-earned benefits for families like Rita Blankenship of McDowell County, who wrote me asking for help,” he said on the House floor Wednesday morning.

Please click here to watch the speech. The full transcript of the congressman’s remarks is below.

“Thank you, 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’ve cosponsored to protect these hard-earned benefits for families like Rita Blankenship of McDowell County, who wrote me asking for help.

“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.

“Mr. Speaker, I yield back.”