To hear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tell it, there’s a “war on coal” in the United States. He’s been saying for years that excessive regulations on the industry are killing jobs in his home state of Kentucky. So why exactly is he now admitting that removing those regulations won’t actually bring back any jobs?
First some background: As recently as 2013, McConnell declared:
“Over 5,000 Kentuckians have lost their jobs in the war on coal.”
Here’s McConnell telling this blatant lie on the floor of the United States Senate:
So it’s no surprise that McConnell must be smiling from ear to ear as he recalls what President-elect Trump said on the campaign trail earlier this year:
“If I win we’re going to bring those miners back. All of it’s getting safe and as it gets safe they’re taking it away from you in a different way. These ridiculous rules and regulations that make it impossible for you to compete, so we’re going to take that all off the table folks.”
Speaking at the University of Louisville Friday, McConnell finally admitted that no mining jobs will be coming back to his home state:
“We are going to be presenting to the new president a variety of options that could end this assault. Whether that immediately brings business back is hard to tell because it’s a private sector activity.”
McConnell went even further, clearly stating that he doesn’t plan to do a damn thing legislatively to get more jobs in Kentucky:
“A government spending program is not likely to solve the fundamental problem of growth. I support the effort to help these coal counties wherever we can but that isn’t going to replace whatever was there when we had a vibrant coal industry.”
Translation: Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are preparing to give coal miners a shaft bigger than the one they’re accustomed to working in.
Featured Image Via Politico
