WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate Floor regarding the Washington Democrats’ War on Coal Jobs:

“Earlier this week, I hosted a tele-town hall with people from across Western Kentucky – from places like Lyon and Webster County. These constituents shared their thoughts on a range of issues, from Obamacare to taxes. But one issue kept coming up over and over again.
 
“The Kentuckians I spoke with were truly worried about the Obama Administration’s War on Coal Jobs. They’ve seen the devastation in Eastern Kentucky, and they know what the President’s newest regulations will likely mean for middle-class families like theirs.
 
“Skyrocketing utility bills, higher prices and fewer jobs.
 
“They know that the Administration’s War is an elitist crusade that threatens to ship good, well-paying jobs overseas, splinter our manufacturing base, and throw yet another load onto the backs of middle-class Kentuckians who’ve already struggled so much. The hard-working people I represent are worried enough just about making their mortgage payments, and paying for car repairs, and coping with energy bills and summer vacations.
 
“These are the people that President Obama and his Washington Democrat allies should be listening to: not the liberal elites that have been begging the President to go after the coal industry and the people whose livelihoods depend on it.
 
“But President Obama doesn’t seem terribly interested in these folks or their problems. Once again, he’ll be off campaigning this week. He’ll huddle with more Left-wing ideologues — the kind of folks who love to make a buck off of coal, and then attack coal families with ego-driven political crusades…like the ideologue the President rolled out the red carpet for just a couple weeks ago at the White House.
 
“Meanwhile, here in the Senate, the Democrat Majority will continue to block and tackle for the President in his anti-coal offensive.
 
“Senate Democrats block basically every attempt, however small, to inject congressional oversight into the Administration’s energy regulations. They shut down votes. They obstruct the committee process that should be at the heart of our work here. They gag their own members.
 
“And they even block common-sense legislation like the Coal Country Protection Act. What that bill – my bill – would do is require the Administration to certify that jobs will not be lost and that utility rates won’t go up as a result of the President’s energy regulations. That’s not too much to ask. But Washington Democrats are blocking my bill because they know that the President’s regulations will cost jobs and will raise utility rates – and they’re more interested in protecting the President’s ideological agenda than jobs.
 
“In other words, Senate Democrats block and tackle and obstruct. All to defend President Obama’s War on Coal Jobs.

“It’s a clear case of extreme devotion.

“And it makes sense, because the Democrat Majority really only has one mission these days: to protect the President and the Left at all costs.
 
“That’s why the average Democrat Senator has almost no power anymore.
 
“They’re just another backbencher fortifying President Obama’s Senate moat — the place where good ideas go to die.
 
“It’s a real shame.
 
“The Senate used to be the place where big ideas were debated and serious solutions were explored.
 
“Committees operated and amendments were offered.
 
“I remember a time not too long ago when there was even such a thing as an independent-minded Senate Democrat.

“But today’s Democrat leadership has put an end to all that.
 
“Well, it’s about time our Washington Democrat friends opened their eyes to the true cost of the President’s policies, both in my state and in theirs. And it’s time for these Washington Democrats to stop pretending that they’re not complicit in the Administration’s War on Coal Jobs, or in the harm that it’s causing to our constituents.
 
“Because there’s real pain out there beyond the Democrat echo chamber — out in real world places like Pike County.
 
“Washington Democrats need to understand that Kentuckians are more than just some statistic on a bureaucratic balance sheet. These are real Americans who are hurting. And they deserve to have their voices heard.
 
“One way to do that, as I’ve suggested, is for the Administration to hold some listening sessions on its new energy regulations in the areas that stand to suffer most from them: in places like Eastern and Western Kentucky.
 
“I’ve already issued multiple invitations for the President’s people to visit places like my home state.
 
“And I’m issuing one again today.
 
“The sad truth is, officials in Washington don’t want to come anywhere near Coal Country. They just want to impose their regulations, hear some quote-unquote ‘feedback’ from the echo chamber in order to check a box, and then move right along to the next front in their War on Coal. They don’t even want to talk to the very people they intend to put out of a job.
 
“Well, several tele-town hall participants want to know why the President won’t come down to see the mines and the coal families himself.
 
“And so do I.
 
“Mr. President: the campaign trips can wait.
 
“You’ve recently expressed an interest in hanging around Middle-Class Americans for a change.
 
“What I’m saying is, here’s your chance.”