Date: 1981-03-10
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. BLACK LUNG REMARKS TO THE UNITED MINE Wonorns othis table will show that I have offered Mr. ROBERT C. BYRD. Mr. President. Mot o Y u nAO oe. more cloture motions than has any I did something on March 9 that I have You know Robert Byrd as a friend of the other Senator during the intervening not done before In my 28 years of service coal miner. I always will be. years since the cloture rule was first in the Congress of the United States. I You work long hours In th coal and rock adopted. and it -will also show that left this Hill to address a gathering of dust. with nothing between you and the cloture has been invoked on more mo- coal miners who had come to Washing- mountain but roof bolts . tions introduced by me. ton to protest rumored changes in the Whr the ran never s black lung benefits program. it dark as a dungeon Mr. Mansfield. my predecessor. offered I ask unanimous consent that the text Way down In the mines. 56 cloture motions. Cloture was invoked of my remarks on that occasion be print- You have come out of the mountain. dogon 14 of those motions. I have offered 70 ed in tle RECORD tired and dirty. and have gone home to your clotre as een Ther beng o ojectontheremrks families. who depend on you for bread. cloture motions and clotureone day. you will leave the mount fr invoked on 20 of those motions. were ordered to be printed In the RECORD. the last time ... after putting in long years Mr. President. I yield the floor. as follows: on the job .P.r. S 1938 Iu Some leave it only for the grave. You mine the coal that produces the elcctricity that lights cities. runs factories. and turns the wheels of industry. You mine the coal that makes steel for hospitals and skyscrapers. automobiles. ships. C tanks. and guns. You are a vital part of America. and you are a part of mea large part. I grew up in a coal miners home . during the Depression . . . in the 30s. I slept on a coal miners bed . . . ate from a coal miners table . . . married a coal miners daughter. Before many of you were born. I played my fiddle at UMW rallies . . . On Mitchell Day . . . John L. Lewis Day . . . Labor Day. I know the sorrows. the heartaches. the tragedies that come to you and your families. My brotherinlaws father was killed in the I mines. Moro than once. I have looked down upon the still face of a minerhis body lying on the mine bath house floorkilled by a slate fall . . An electric wire . . . Or a runaway motor. More than once I have looked into the worn face of a miner. for whom each new day brought misery . . And every gasp for breath brought pain. Black Lung I That is why you are here today. That is why I am here. You are a part of mea large part. On March 28. 1969. I appeared before the Labor Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and proposed Federal legislation to provide compensation to disabled millers suffering from Black Lung. The next dayMarch 27. 1069Senator Randolph and I joined in introducing legislation to establish the Black Lung benefits program. I not only helped in enacting the black lung legislation. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I also helped to fund it . . . And to establish black lung clinics in the coal field areas . . . and to enact mine safety laws. You are here today because you are worried that these hardwon benefits may be reduced or erased by the new administration. That is why I am here with you. I. too. am concernedi As of this moment. we do not know what the new administration will propose to do about mine safety programs or -about black lung benefits. We have not been told the details. We have not seen the fine print. The administration has said that it wants to put the black lung disability trust fund on a sound financial footing. I support that aim. I know you do. A sound trust fund will mean that black lung victims can feel secure in the knowledge that they will receive the compensation provided by law. And this is what we must protectthe black lung victims who are entitled to such benefits. I have asked the administration for information on what it proposes to do. I believe we ought to fnd out what the administration has in mind. The White House recently cited a report by the General Accounting Office whioh indicated. according to the administration. that 0 out of 10 families currently receiving black lung benefits are not entitled to them. I do not believe that. I believe that figure is grossly misleading. I believe that most retired miners receiving benefits are getting that which is due them under the law.