American Jobs

Floor Speech

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.

Source