WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor calling for action on American energy jobs:
“Too often in Washington, our friends on the Left seem to operate under a very dangerous assumption — that good intentions are more important than a good outcome.
“I say it’s dangerous because we see all the time how liberal Washington policies that aim to alleviate problems like poverty or wage stagnation or other social or economic problems just seem to make things worse.
“And yet despite the evidence, the policies never seem to change. More money just gets thrown at the same failed programs, year after year, with barely any thought as to whether or not they actually work.
Obamacare is a case in point. Here’s a big-government bill that Washington Democrats thought they could just pass and – poof – health care would magically be made affordable for everybody.
“Yet for millions of Americans, just the opposite happened. Contrary to the assurances, Obamacare has upended lives and businesses across the country. It’s forced painful choices for people who could barely get by as it was.
“It’s a mess.
“So you’d assume Washington Democrats would step back and take a long hard look at the accumulating evidence and start thinking about ways to keep this thing from pummeling even more Americans.
“But you’d be wrong. They just keep doubling down. When the web site crashed, they called it a glitch. When people started losing their doctors and their plans, they told them to live with it.
“When Americans started sharing their Obamacare horror stories, they basically called them all liars.
“And that should tell you everything you need to know how about how much Washington liberals care about middle-class Americans.
“They’re captive to the most extreme ideologies of the Left, and they don’t even try to hide it anymore.
“Forget reason or economics or sound argument. It’s all about ideology with these guys.
“We saw all this on vivid display a couple nights ago with the Democrats’ all night talk-a-thon on global warming.
“The reason for the all-nighter was pretty obvious — it was a command performance for a left-wing activist donor out in California. And the fact that taxpayers were basically subsidizing the whole thing was bad enough.
“But what about the basic substance of the issue Democrats were talking about the other night?
“It’s just one more case where good intentions trump the impact their proposals would have on ordinary Americans.
“See, the Obama Administration seems to think that if it just wishes really hard and issues enough regulations, it can single-handedly reduce global carbon emissions – without bringing Beijing and New Delhi onboard.
“It’s an alternate universe where ‘victory’ means U.S. emissions going down by some negligible amount – and where China and India don’t simultaneously eclipse that tiny emissions reduction with expanded energy production of their own.
“It’s a universe where the massive economic consequences of acting so recklessly basically don’t matter.
“And it’s a universe where middle-class Americans somehow don’t take the hit to our economic output on the chin
“In other words, it’s the kind of thing that could only make sense to a party blinded by an extremist ideology.
“Of course, Washington Democrats love to pull out the old straw man and say, either you support our approach completely – even if it won’t actually solve the problem it purports to – or you hate the environment.
“Kind of like when they said, either you vote for Obamacare or you hate affordable health care.
“Well, our constituents remember how that worked out. And our constituents are quite capable of seeing the complexity in the world that so often eludes our friends on the Left – they’re capable of caring deeply about the environment, for instance, while disagreeing with the Administration’s ideological crusade here.
“Of course, every ideological crusade needs an enemy.
“And in the Administration’s ‘War on Coal,’ Washington Democrats appear to have found their foil.
“It’s not some fat cat.
“It’s not some Wall Street titan.
“Nope. This time, it seems to be middle-class Kentucky families.
“Miners who struggle every day just to put food on the table.
“The kinds of Americans who work hard so the rest of us can have a better life.
“Well, it’s unfair. It’s wrong.
“And where Washington Democrats seem to see faceless adversaries, I see human beings.
“People who are hurting.
“I wish my Democrat colleagues would join me sometime as I travel around Kentucky listening to their concerns.
“At one recent listening session, a miner named Howard Abshire had this message for President Obama:
‘Come and look at our little children, look at our people, Mr. President. You're not hurting for a job; you've got one. I don't have one.’
“Another miner, Gary Lockhart, said his biggest worry was just trying to keep a roof over his family’s head and food on the table. And when it comes to his fellow miners, here’s what he had to say:
‘Many of these men, who have never asked the government for any kind of assistance in their lives…[are] having to go home and tell their families that their pay’s going to be cut to practically nothing. [That] there'll be very little Christmas this year, no vacations, nothing extra.’
“And miners aren’t the only ones affected by all the pain out there in Coal Country. I’d like to read you a letter I received from Bill Staggs, a businessman and pastor from Pikeville:
‘We have had to lay off employees due to the closings of mines and the [effect] they have had. Our business is losing thousands of dollars due to the negative impact of the EPA. As a pastor... our benevolence to the community has increased fivefold with help for food, power bills, clothing and just the day to day living expenses that families need.’
“Americans may not always know it, but they owe a lot to coal miners like the ones I represent in Kentucky. And whether it’s watching a TV show, drying a pair of jeans, or saving some leftover takeout for tomorrow, we often probably have a miner to thank for the electricity that makes it all possible. That’s also true if we plan to keep the lights on all night long.
“So I hope our friends on the other side will remember to be thankful for the electricity that makes all-night talk-a-thons possible. Honestly, I still don’t get the point of their stunt. They didn’t introduce legislation or schedule votes on the national electricity tax they seem to want so badly. And remember, they control the Senate, so they can bring it up for debate whenever they want.
“But here’s the point. Republicans care deeply about the environment. We also care deeply about creating jobs and growing the middle class. And we don’t think our country should have to sacrifice one priority for the other.
“The American people don’t either.
“So it’s time for Washington Democrats to drop the billionaire-approved ideological crusades – to quit with all the talk and get on board with sensible, forward-looking action to create jobs. We’ve tried the Left’s wish-upon-a-star approach already, and real people have been hurt. Now let’s try some things that will actually work.”
All official press releases from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
