It appears that the message George W. Bush has for coal miners such as those that lost their lives in Utah's Crandall Canyon mine is akin to his message to the children of the country's working class--just die! That sounds a bit harsh I'm sure but realistically, unless you're wealthy, you're irrelevant and replaceable. This country evidently is not for the haves or the haves not but strictly for the haves mores  in Bush's mind. Not only is he heartless of the children depending on SCHIP, but he now admits to putting the profits of coal mining companies over the safety of their workers.
Democrats want to pass a bill that would add safeguards to “retreat” mining, improve emergency response, reduce long-term health risks facing miners, give the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration subpoena authority, increase penalties for safety violations, and create an ombudsman's office to handle miners' safety complaints.

The White House today threatened to veto the mine safety bill, saying the new regulations proposed by Democrats would interfere with legislation President Bush signed in 2006. The Bush regime contends that the Democrats' mine safety legislation would jeopardize achievements and efforts under way because of the MINER Act.

“We are focused on implementing the 2006 MINER Act, which provided MSHA with strong new tools to be able to accomplish this mission,” said Richard Stickler, who leads the federal mine safety agency. “S-MINER, on the other hand, would undermine these and other ongoing efforts.”

The Democrats and The United Mine Workers disagree: 

“The administration has weakened or rolled back a number of existing mine safety regulations,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Rep. Miller added:

“Congress has been forced to act to improve mine safety because of the Bush administration’s total failure to work aggressively to keep miners safe on the job. The Bush administration has never made mine safety a priority, even going so far as to appoint former industry executives to key positions in the Mine Safety and Health Administration – a clear case of the fox guarding the henhouse. The administration has weakened or rolled back a number of existing mine safety regulations. And now, the White House is offering a series of completely baseless excuses to explain its decision to threaten a veto of this urgently-needed legislation. President Bush should stop playing politics with people’s lives and work with Congress to enact mine safety reforms that were left unaddressed by the MINER Act of 2006.”

Miller is the sponsor of the legislation, the Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act -HR2768- For more information on mine safety, click here.

Mine Safety has been a top priority of the Education and Labor Committee for the entire year, including numerous hearings and investigations. Much of that work is reflected in H.R. 2768, “The Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act,” which comes up for a vote tomorrow. See Chairman George Miller’s explanation of the bill in his statement during markup of the bill

Information provided by THE GAVEL and SignOnSanDiego

There are no comments to this entry.