No one could have predicted:
The Miners Protection Act to address health and pension benefits for coal miners and their families will not be included in a continuing resolution bill, according to a Tuesday announcement.
Congress said the bill, which would continue to fund the federal government, only has four months of funding for those retired miners and their widows.
Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America, called the announcement “a slap in the face to all 22,000 of them who desperately need their health care next month, next year and for the rest of their lives.”
In a statement released Tuesday night, Roberts went on to say:
“The notion that Congress needs more time to consider this matter is absurd. This legislation has been before Congress for four years, has been through regular order in the Senate as was requested by the Majority Leader, and was passed by the Senate Finance Committee by an overwhelming margin in September. The time to pass the full Miners Protection Act is now,” Robert said.
I’m sure this will be a top priority under the regime of the carrot colored Caligula. ***EYEROLL***
Betty Cracker
Once again, I mourn the innocent victims but hope the Trump voters get what’s coming to them. Good and hard.
Bostonian
Well, at least the Trumpaloompas will roll back that jerb killin regulation so the grandkids can go down the hole and earn some money for snake oil.
Emma
@Betty Cracker: Co-signed.
GregB
Good luck getting coverage for black lung disease after the Republicans gut the ACA.
piratedan
they should be happy to get four months… I’m sure that they will look back fondly at this time as the highlight of President Trump’s administration… maybe they can all hire out as our own homemade Stasi to eradicate the threat that immigrants and non-Protestants pose to our American way of life.
SenyorDave
@GregB: Good luck getting coverage for black lung disease after the Republicans gut the ACA.
They could be coughing their lungs out, but they’ll still have a smile on their face as the think about those Mexicans being deported and the blacks being put in their place,
Helen
@Betty Cracker: Ditto
Emma
@Bostonian: Actually, no. IIRC one of the biggest power plant corporations in the US has already said that government or not they will be closing down the last of their coal plants by 2020 (I think that was the date). Coal is too expensive and the plants don’t make a high-enough profit. AND one of the biggest mine owners said they weren’t adding new jobs because the demand wasn’t there.
Reality bites like an alligator.
rikyrah
Oh well.
manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: That’s pretty much a foregone conclusion.
The Moar You Know
So Twitler will bring back coal jobs by killing off all the currently living coal miners. Well, gotta give it to him, that’s one way to do it.
kindness
I went to the link John listed and read the comments. I should not be surprised that a number of those commentators are blaming Obama for this. If we can make it through 4 years of Trump without Civil War we will have exceeded my expectations.
Corner Stone
I think the real question here, is how did Obama fail to get this bill passed?
low-tech cyclist
The Dems should be all over the airwaves* with this sucker, saying “We support the Miners Protection Act which protects pension and health benefits for miners and their dependents. The Republicans are against it, and want to kill those benefits. We’re on the side of the workers, and the Republicans are on the side of the bosses. It’s that simple.”
Seriously, we shouldn’t wait until September 2018 to start getting our message out. We should start yesterday.
*ETA: Primarily in PA and WV, of course, but also any other swing state where there’s much mining.
Macbethchick
@Betty Cracker:
I feel torn. Like you, I don’t want my family and friends ‘back home’ to be destroyed even more by Devil Coal…but on the other hand I fantasize about sitting across the dinner table and saying, “I told you so.”
JPL
From the last republican president …
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
JMG
Every story like this only increases the odds of police state and state violence repression of minorities. It’s the only thing Trump can deliver for the white workers he conned, and the worse they suffer, the more he must make sure the Others suffer even more.
Betty Cracker
@Macbethchick: Understandable. I’m pissed off that these wankers (and their brethren in other states, including my own relatives in FL) are dragging the rest of us down with them, so I’ve got zero sympathy for them as individuals. But would I support a bill that would help people get wider access to healthcare — even assholes? I have, and I will again.
low-tech cyclist
@Corner Stone:
I hope you’re being facetious, but just in case you’re not, the SATSQ is: GOP majorities in both houses of Congress.
randy khan
@low-tech cyclist:
This. But don’t forget Kentucky. With McConnell’s name attached to it. Make him feel some pain.
mkro
Nothing new to see hear. GOP has been getting working class whites to vote against their own best interests for decades.
Let us not forget that 80% of Christian Evangelicals voted for the 3x married pussy grabbing golden commode
Mnemosyne
Too bad your union members decided to ignore multiple warnings that Trump would have no compunction about fucking them over, but some people don’t learn any other way but harsh experience. Too bad, so sad.
Corner Stone
Group overwhelmingly votes for asshole weasels election after election.
Asshole weasels Group voted for literally consign Group to a poor quality of life and a long miserable death.
Group dumbfounded asshole weasels now ripping *their* faces off.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
The generalized version of that notion was exactly what Garrison Keillor wrote about in his 11/9/16 Washington Post article:
Corner Stone
@low-tech cyclist: I am sorry, but no. The correct answer is clearly, “Obama failed to get this bill passed because he did not invite Congress over for drinks enough.”
gene108
Just from the stories, I have gleaned, I do not think miners care much about post-mining benefits. They want the jobs. Period.
I’m not sure they care too much about working conditions, because they do not seem to prioritize it, with regards to who they politically support. They keep voting for people, who promise to bring back mining jobs, but gut work place safety.
James E Powell
I’m still so angry that I feel no sympathy for any Trump lovin’ Make Appalachia Great Again people who are going to lose now that the Republicans they put in power are screwing them over.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Yup. All those war on coal people should be more worried about the war on coal miners than the war on coal.
rikyrah
@GregB:
TRUE THAT.
mkro
@Mnemosyne: Union members in the Midwest regions that voted for Trump are also the now famous White Working Class that voted based on ignorance and racial animosity.
Snarki, child of Loki
Trump prefers coal miners that don’t have Black Lung Disease.
rikyrah
@low-tech cyclist:
Tell that truth.
gene108
@randy khan:
Republican response:
The Miner Protection Act, like other big government interventions, puts an unfair burden on businesses and keeps them from creating more jobs.
The reason coal miners are struggling to find work is because of too much big government. By eliminating this Job Killing Miner Protection Act, we will help coal country get the good paying mining jobs they have been losing due to big government.
Edit: This will help bring an end to the liberal War on Coal, which has been hurting coal country for years.
Corner Stone
UMWA: But, but…I need that money and the health care protection!
Weasels: Yeah, we know.
UMWA: Then, why…??
Weasels: Look over there! A black woman buying steak and talking on her Obamaphone in the checkout line!
UMWA: Now that you mention it, I am feeling pretty economically anxious. Where’s muh ballot?!
Mnemosyne
@JMG:
Also, this. It’s pretty much the announced plan: Yes, white people, you’re gonna get fucked over, but Those People will have it even worse, just like you wanted! And, frankly, a whole lot of stupid white people will be willing to take that deal.
Mai.naem.mobile
Remember the GOP being the Daddy party and the Dems being the Mommy party. Well,maybe the Mommy party needs to tell the stupid adult kids that actions have consequences and that the Mommy party isn’t going to be there to get your ass out of the bed you made.
cmorenc
@JMG:
…and if we do begin to successfully make headway with WWCers such as coal miners on how we are supporting them and Trump/GOOPers are screwing them – you can be sure Trump will quickly find some incident involving MOOSLIMS to misdirect their angers and fears, claiming the dems are coddling our enemies, thereby allowing them to plot terrorism against WWCers.
Facebones
@piratedan: Can’t really be secret police with a hacking cough.
Mary G
New Yorker: Learning Trump Won, in West Virginia:
Chris
@Macbethchick:
It’s not a matter of fantasizing that for me (I don’t even bother talking politics with conservatives and haven’t in years). It’s the fact that I know all these people were voting specifically to screw me, or at least everyone like me, that makes it incredibly hard to sympathize. I can forgive stupidity, but they’ve show time and time again that, for most of the politically engaged and a disquieting amount of regular voters, it’s not stupidity but active ill-intent for their fellow human beings that guides their voting patterns.
Yes, of course I want them covered by health insurance. That’s what equal rights and equal treatment means, for those of us who actually believe in that shit and don’t think our race, religion, culture or where we live makes us special snowflakes; everyone gets them whether or not you actually care for these people. But if they’re going to insist on shooting themselves in the foot in the hopes that the bullets will go through the floor and hit their black, Hispanic, and coastal neighbors, I don’t deny that part of me’s going to enjoy watching them hobble around in blinding pain. That’s what they wanted for me, after all.
raven
Xin Loi mofo’s!
currants
@Betty Cracker: Yes, yes, and yes.
But it is still incredible to me that every single goddamn day is worse than the one before it.
schrodinger's cat
Deleted because wrong thread.
randy khan
@gene108:
Short, simple ads: The Republicans killed protection for miners with black lung disease. Call Mitch McConnell and tell him that he has to protect Kentucky’s coal miners.
Let them come back with that explanation. As many have said about the Democrats, if you’re explaining, you’re losing.
schrodinger's cat
Congratulations Appalachian state voters, you have cut off your nose to spite your face. Meanwhile in the Commonwealth of the Sane, we have a program, that helps homeowners save money and save the planet by giving sizable rebates on energy saving gadgets for your home and does a free home assessment. We have ours scheduled in Feb, because they are that popular.
We also got a $100 rebate on an already discounted washer because it has energy saving features with $100 gift card from Lowe’s. I lubs you my nanny state.
schrodinger's cat
@JMG: Yeah, that’s not going to pay nana’s nursing home bill though.
schrodinger's cat
@randy khan: Yes! HRC should have never apologized for that damned server.
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker:
They voted for these people, so I’m sorry but fuck em.
@GregB:
Well they keep voting for the repeal Obamacare morons, so again fuck em.
These morons are about to wake up to the fact that while it’s true that a disproportionate percentage of dusky people do rely on government services, because of non-existent racism, the vast majority of beneficiaries are good ole white people. So congratulations you’ve fucked yourselves again. Good job “heartland America”, you’ve really showed us coastal, liberal elites.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@kindness:
These are ignorant (or wilfully stupid) people who only know they want theirs. Screw everyone else. My sympathy meter is at just about zero for them.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: The people who vote for T are not innocent. The media is not innocent. They built this.
Kay
You get mad at them, but it’s hard. This is my grandfather. Not “him” (he’s long dead) but he was the beneficiary of all of the protections for coal miners- his widow, actually, he didn’t live long past retirement.
It’s like liberals can’t quit these people no matter how often they tell us to fuck off :)
MuckJagger
@low-tech cyclist: Pennsylvania, maybe…but is West Virginia *really* a swing state nowadays?
randy khan
@MuckJagger:
West Virginia’s not really a swing state now, but there is a Democratic Senator to protect, and the Dems need to have aggressive messaging everywhere and make the Republicans play defense whenever they can. A lot of defense. Make Capito explain why she didn’t protect West Virginia coal miners, and make the three Republican House members do the same.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Obama’s response to @Corner Stone : Fuck you, you have a drink with Mitch McConnell.
Also too, he said mean things to republicans, and really hurt their feelings. How were they supposed to work with him after that? Obama failed us all, and because he failed us, America was forced to vote for the shitgibbon.
Miss Bianca
@Mary G: Yeah, enjoy that celebration dinner, dumbfucks. And enjoy that tasty helping of crow-and-shit pie when it turns out that – surprise, surprise, surprise – your jobs ain’t coming back after all.
Jesus wept.
raven
@Kay: My grandfather spent 30 years in the mines in Southern Illinois and, he too, has been dead for over 30 years. It doesn’t matter whether “we” give up on them or not. Just like my fellow veterans I don’t give a fuck if the whole thing collapses on their dumb asses.
randy khan
@hovercraft:
My sympathy is limited, but as a practical matter I want to get these people to vote for Democrats. The trick is finding a way to do that and not be inconsistent with the principles of progressive policy.
FlipYrWhig
@randy khan:
Manchin should be screaming himself hoarse over this.
FlipYrWhig
@randy khan: Not everybody is going to vote for Democrats. Let them demand better _from Republicans_. I’d be fine with that.
Jeffro
Another burn-it-all-down Bannon pick: Trump to name anti-minimum-wage Hardee’s CEO to head Department of Labor.
Harry, Hillz, PBO: we need that prime-time speech to the EC, complete with full disclosure of Russian involvement, within the next week!!
schrodinger's cat
@Jeffro: Bush appointees were similar in spirit, although a tad more qualified than the current shitshow, its not just a Bannon thing, its a Republican thing.
Jeffro
@schrodinger’s cat: I hear you but these folks are an order of magnitude meaner, dumber, more obviously determined to tear down these agencies. Excuse me, I mean burn down these agencies.
I mean, DeVos is completely against public schools even as a concept. Same thing with the EPA guy – complete climate change denier, thinks the EPA even over-regulates clean air and water(!). The Labor guy doesn’t think there should even BE a minimum wage(!!)
Whole
Other
Order
Of
Magnitude
gene108
@randy khan:
From what I have seen, in my neck of the woods, for every ad like the one you suggest, there is will be 3 ads decrying how big government is destroying coal jobs.
It is really hard, in the current environment to get a message out through the media clutter or with ads. The other side is better entrenched in the media and has more money for ads.
Loss leader
In the next election cycle, the GOP will run ads blaming Obama for everything that goes wrong including the loss of critical benefits. They’ll claim Obama personally did this and the voters will send every one of these people back to Congress. The only thing they care about is making damned certain nobody black or brown gets free money from the government.
Jeffro
.
randy khan
@FlipYrWhig:
I don’t need everybody to vote for Democrats, so long as I get 50%+1 everywhere. Heck, I’ll settle for 50%+1 in just a tad over 2/3 of the Congressional districts, 2/3 of the states in Senate races and in enough states for 270 EVs in Presidential years.
But, yeah, pushing the Republicans more towards the center would be a good result, too.
Macbethchick
@MuckJagger: Not exactly a swing state because the Democratic Party previously ruled the state. The dominoes then began to fall faster. The nearby steel industry collapsed. Non-coal companies (such as the huge glass industry) moved to the anti-union Carolinas and Georgia – taking jobs with them, Unions fell apart, often at the hands of blatant corruption. That trickle-down thing just didn’t happen. The demand for coal crashed. Robert Byrd died. The NRA. Glen Beck. Anti-Choice. More ‘us v. them.’
The strangest thing is this that throughout history, most West Virginians have had a caustic distrust of outsiders, yet paradoxically believe these rich ‘fat cat’ outsiders are going to save them.
MomSense
@Snarki, child of Loki:
FTW
Zinsky
This reptile (Trump) is going to disappoint everyone and it is going to happen sooner rather than later. He is a filthy liar and will say anything to further himself. The rubes who voted for this stupid, stupid man, if they have any common sense, will soon realize they have been hornswaggled and rookie dooed by this piece of scum.
The Moar You Know
@Loss leader: Exactly. AND IT WILL WORK
hovercraft
@schrodinger’s cat:
The idea is appoint terribly unqualified people who screw everything up, and then bitch that the person who was ever so successful doing something totally unrelated to their new job, cannot turn around the entity they don’t understand because government doesn’t work, because, bureaucracy . It’s a twofer, you pay off a donor/supporter with a cushy job, and you reduce the publics faith in the government at the same time. The key to doing it right is to not have spectacular public failures like Katrina. You want steady incompetence over an extended period of time, like the civil rights division at the department of justice.
Botsplainer
@Mnemosyne:
There are no union mines left in Kentucky.
Not a single one. Every hole in the ground is a shabby wildcat mine.
randy khan
@gene108:
I’m sure it’s true that there are a ton of bad ads, but that’s no reason not to run good, simple ads of our own. The environment won’t get better if Team D hunkers down.
hueyplong
Maybe I will get to “torn” at some point, but for now it’s fck every fcker who voted for Trump. Period.
ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
Many of them don’t even learn the hard way.
Maybe their brains have been turned to mush by repeatedly being beaten over the head with their own failings.
schrodinger's cat
@Jeffro: Agreed about the order of magnitude. The proposed admin is espresso Republican, instead of coffee its a concentrated form of hate, bigotry and ineptitude.
Macbethchick
@randy khan:
Meh. Like her dearly-departed Daddy, Capito doesn’t give a damn about taking responsibility and answering for crimes against the state. Pay no attention to that (wo)man behind the curtain.
SciNY
I’m also horrified by the damage Trump may (will) do to innocent people who realized he was a false prophet and posed a great risk to them, our country, and the world. At the same time, the fact that many Trump supporters ignored or accepted this risk, and now are among the first to see their health and lives diminished by their idiot strongman, is part and parcel of my faith’s concept of karma as a force for justice in human affairs. Equally, as a scientist, I see the payback about to fall on the heads of Trump supporters as a manifestation of natural selection favoring inclusive, rational, and liberal values and policies. In other words, all the things that already made America great, and which we need more of to make it better.
Macbethchick
@randy khan: Yes, losing Manchin would another kick-in-the-face, although I still stand by my statement on a much earlier thread that Manchin is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He publically called out Democratic senators planning to make cabinet confirmations a difficult process for Don the Con. He supports Jeff Sessions, his “roll tide” buddy from Alabama, for Attorney General despite Sessions federal judgeship being denied in the 80’s for racially-charged remarks. In fact, Manchin sounded disturbing like Trump’s own feigned ignorance of David Duke’s depravity. Said Manchin, “I don’t know anything about the past, the Supreme, I mean his federal judgeship that he got turned down for because of derogatory remarks. I didn’t know any of that stuff, so we will see. That has to go through a nomination and approval by the Senate,”
I echo The Townhall’s headline (ironically) that Manchin may very well be Trump’s favorite Democrat for the next two years.
Chris T.
No problem then: “the rest of their lives” is just next month anyway, now.
(do I need /sarcasm tag?)
scott (the other one)
The DNC should put up billboards in coal country saying: “Under Democrats, you had the Miners Protection Act. Under Republicans you don’t. One cares about the health of all Americans. One only cares about the rich. It’s that simple. Vote Democrat.”
randy khan
@Macbethchick:
Well, it might be time for other people to let her know that they care. Maybe it makes no difference, but if you don’t make the effort, she’ll certainly go on the way she’s going now.
Aleta
Wait til the T team start dynamiting the UMWA itself.
If I remember right: Hillary spoke strongly in support of the Miners Protection Act. Trump said nothing. Just repeated generic “I’ll bring jobs back” in speeches. Cecil Roberts said he appreciated Hillary’s support. And the UMWA refused to endorse a candidate.
J R in WV
@FlipYrWhig:
Come on, you guys… Manchin doesn’t give a rat’s ass for coal miners. He hasn’t ever worked underground, doesn’t have relatives who worked underground, doesn’t care about people who work underground or their families.
He hasn’t ever done ANYTHING to protect miners, never lifted a finger.
The only person on Earth who Manchin cares about at all is Manchin. Full stop. So don’t dream that he’s going to work hard to protect miners, or anyone else, if there’s no money in it for him.
FoxinSocks
Dems, including Manchin and Sherrod Brown, are threatening to shutdown the government unless the coal miners’ benefits are extended at least a year. I called them and thanked them for going to the mat on this. You should too! http://www.senate.gov
Cheese us criest
@Bostonian: Amen!
Brenda
I’m just lost for words.