E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 157 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011 No. 78 Senate The Senate was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Friday, June 3, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. House of Representatives THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011 The House met at 10 a.m. and was ple’s House spoke loud and clear: No Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. called to order by the Speaker pro tem- debt limit increase without real spend- Mr. Speaker and Members of the pore (Mr. WESTMORELAND). ing cuts to promote job growth. Lib- House, a little more than a year ago, 29 f erals wanted to increase the debt limit coal miners lost their lives in the by $2.4 trillion with no meaningful re- Upper Big Branch mine in West Vir- DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO forms. At a time when the Federal ginia. Our Nation watched with sadness TEMPORE Government is borrowing 42 cents of as a small community felt the lash of The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- every dollar it spends, the last thing the worst coal mining tragedy in this fore the House the following commu- Americans want to do is raise the gov- country in four decades. nication from the Speaker: ernment’s borrowing limit recklessly Shortly after the tragedy, our Nation WASHINGTON, DC, killing jobs. Liberals in Congress need promised these families to get to the June 2, 2011. to attach real cuts to any increases bottom of what happened and we prom- I hereby appoint the Honorable LYNN A. they are seeking. That means for every ised to make sure that something like WESTMORELAND to act as Speaker pro tem- dollar proposed to increase the debt this would never happen again. pore on this day. limit, there should be one dollar in The good news is that we learned a JOHN A. BOEHNER, cuts. It makes sense. lot about what caused this tragedy in Speaker of the House of Representatives. Tuesday night’s vote of 318–97–7 the last year. Last month, an inde- f shows that the House is overwhelm- pendent panel of experts appointed by the Governor of West Virginia released MORNING-HOUR DEBATE ingly in agreement with this debt limit increase being denied. Over 80 Demo- the results of a 13-month-long inves- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- crats joined with the 237 Republicans tigation. They concluded that the ex- ant to the order of the House of Janu- to vote against the President’s debt plosion was preventable. The panel said ary 5, 2011, the Chair will now recog- ceiling request. Adding more debt to that the warning signs about dangerous nize Members from lists submitted by our economy handicaps small business conditions in the mine were ignored the majority and minority leaders for job creation and aggravates our coun- leading up to the tragedy. They found morning-hour debate. try’s debt crisis even further. This is a that the Massey Energy Company ig- The Chair will alternate recognition direct risk to senior citizens with the nored basic safety precautions that the between the parties, with each party value of the dollar being put at risk. mining industry has recognized for limited to 1 hour and each Member It’s a threat to students who could be more than a century. Repeated viola- other than the majority and minority faced with overwhelming debt in the tions had become business as usual, leaders and the minority whip limited future. something which the investigation to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall In conclusion, God bless our troops called ‘‘a normalization of deviance,’’ debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. and we will never forget September where unsafe behavior and conditions f 11th in the global war on terrorism. became normal at Upper Big Branch mine. PRESIDENT’S DEBT CEILING f The report lays out how this tragedy REQUEST FAILS unfolded. It may have ended with a The Chair recognizes the gentleman MINE SAFETY sudden explosion, but it was a slow-mo- from South Carolina (Mr. WILSON) for 5 The SPEAKER pro tempore. The tion disaster. minutes. Chair recognizes the gentleman from The company’s inadequate ventila- Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. California (Mr. GEORGE MILLER) for 5 tion system allowed explosive gases to Speaker, on Tuesday night, the peo- minutes. build up. Workers were slogging in b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H3917 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:49 Jun 03, 2011 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0636 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A02JN7.000 H02JNPT1 tjames on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with HOUSE H3918 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 2, 2011 neck-deep water that obstructed the In the end, though, getting mine re- this Chamber and America to recognize air currents needed to ventilate meth- form done depends upon Congress. The Seth Blevin’s family and pray for them ane gas. The mine’s owners routinely responsibility rests squarely here. so that they can endure this heartache illegally changed ventilation plans and These disasters are preventable. This and find a way to overcome it. used faulty engineering. report is a very clear warning. We Mr. Speaker, may Seth Blevins rest In the months before the explosion, should not—we must not—wait for an- in peace, and may his family find miners asked Massey management 561 other tragedy before Congress owns up peace. times to quench the explosive potential to its responsibility. f of coal dust by applying rock dust, yet f WELCOMING PRESIDENT WALLACE Massey only took action 65 times, or 11 LOH TO UNIVERSITY OF MARY- percent of the time they were re- b 1010 LAND quested to do so. IN MEMORY OF PRIVATE FIRST The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Water sprays on a mining machine CLASS WILLIAM ‘‘SETH’’ BLEVINS were not properly maintained and Chair recognizes the gentleman from failed to extinguish sparks, which al- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Maryland (Mr. HOYER) for 5 minutes. lowed a fire to ignite. Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, as you Coal dust provided the fuel that al- Ohio (Mrs. SCHMIDT) for 5 minutes. know, I am a very proud alumnus of lowed a localized fire to trigger a mas- Mrs. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, it is a the University of Maryland. For more sive explosion that ripped through sad day for my district because today than a century and a half, the Univer- miles of underground tunnels where we’re going to lay an American hero to sity of Maryland has represented the miners were working. rest, Private First Class William best of American ideals of public edu- Finally, the report found intimida- ‘‘Seth’’ Blevins. He was only 21. cation. Now I am very proud to say tion. Miners were afraid to speak out Just before Christmas in 1989, on De- that the University of Maryland tradi- about their safety concerns. They cember 22, Steven and Trish Wagnoner tion is in the capable hands of our new dared not stop coal production. Anyone Blevins got the best gift of all—a beau- President, Dr. Wallace Loh, who was who challenged management was con- tiful, healthy little boy. They lived in inaugurated this spring. sidered a nuisance or a threat and their rural America, Sardinia, Brown Coun- Wallace Loh came to the United jobs were on the line. ty, Ohio. They were small business States at the age of 15, alone, without These conclusions are chilling. This owners, working hard to make a living family, with $300 in his pocket, his par- report makes it clear that the failure and working harder to make sure that ents life savings. Wallace Loh was born to effectively deal with a reckless oper- their children achieve the American in Shanghai, China. His father, a dip- ator occurred at many levels: Dream. And they did their job with lomat, fled the Communist regime to Our Nation’s health and safety pro- Seth. You see, Seth was a wonderful Lima, Peru when Wallace was a very tections failed these 29 miners because young man, a young man who loved our young man. He grew up in Lima until of the many loopholes in the law that country so much he put the cloth of his the age of 15, but it was here in this were exploited by the mine industry. country, a uniform, on and decided to country that he pursued the education Regulators allowed the mine to oper- protect our freedom no matter what that would ultimately make him one of ate in a badly engineered ventilation cost or peril it was to him. our most respected academic leaders. system and failed to force operators to In 2008, he graduated from Eastern President Loh comes to College Park use modern technology to prevent coal High School in Brown County. He from the University of Iowa, where he dust explosions. played soccer, basketball, participated served as Provost and Executive Vice And the mining industry failed these in the band, and was a member of the President. He brings to the University workers because they repeatedly re- Eastern High School chapter of the Na- of Maryland more than three decades fused to speak out against some of the tional Honor Society, clearly a winning of hard work and accomplishment in worst actors within their industry, and individual.