Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, with the election of President Trump in 2016, it was reasonable to believe that the war on coal was settled, or at least we had a lasting cease-fire. This administration's policies, supported by the Congressional Review Act resolutions, undid many of the excesses of the Obama administration's regulatory assault on coal country. Congress and the President overturned the so- called stream protection rule, which would have made it nearly impossible to mine coal in Appalachia.

The Trump administration has returned sanity to the clean water permitting process in section 404 and is in the process of restoring the Waters of the United States rule to align with congressional intent of protecting Federal waters and not every stream, ditch, and gully across this country, but the jewel of the War on Coal's crown was always the Clean Power Plan.

A sweeping rule to limit the use of coal in our power generation mix, the Clean Power Plan ran roughshod over utility investments and States' rights to protect their taxpayers and ratepayers. In a moment of clarity, then-Candidate Obama acknowledged that under his vision for our power system ``electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.''

The Clean Power Plan, if implemented, would have made that vision a reality. Energy is a topline item in many of our families' budgets and very expensive, and this policy would have grown these costs significantly. This plan was so disastrous and so clearly beyond the scope of EPA's authority that 24 States--with West Virginia in the lead--sued to stop it. The Supreme Court--our Supreme Court--heard the call and placed a stay on the rule while a lower court weighed the merits.

This June, the Trump EPA finalized its replacement for this unlawful CPP with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. This commonsense alternative acknowledges the need to reduce carbon emissions from our power sector but ensures that EPA targets are actually achievable and will not kill jobs in the utility and energy sectors, nor crush American families with higher electric bills.

Fully implemented, the ACE rule will reduce the CO2 emissions by as much as 35 percent from 2005 levels. This administration understands that protecting our environment need not come at the expense of a growing economy. The result has been a growth in our national GDP that the Obama administration's economic projections predicted would be unachievable.

The unemployment rate of my own State of West Virginia is now 4.6 percent, after it had peaked in 2010 at 8.8 percent. This week, many Democrats in this body want to put all this progress in jeopardy and reopen the War on Coal with a Congressional Review Act resolution to block the ACE rule.

Senate Democrats and their Presidential candidates have doubled down on policies that would destroy our jobs, hammer consumers, and burden future generations with staggering amounts of debt.

Refusing to learn the lessons of Hillary Clinton's 2016 failed campaign promise, which was to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, the former Vice President has taken it a step further: pledging on a Detroit debate stage in July to ``make sure'' that coal and natural gas that comes from fracking are ``eliminated.''

There is much support on the other side for the Green New Deal's energy and environmental components, which would cost between $8 trillion and $12 trillion, and that is before adding other extreme visions for the government takeover of healthcare, education, and agriculture.

The Democrats' energy agenda will lead to fewer jobs, more expensive utility bills, and less reliable electricity. We already see the lack of reliability of our electricity grid in California right now. I hope the Senate will refuse to go down this path toward impoverishing the very people who power the country and make our quality of life possible.

Passage of this resolution would serve as the starting point for a resumption of the War on Coal and a march to the extremist excesses of the Green New Deal. I urge my colleagues to heed the voice of the American people and vote no on the resolution disapproving the ACE rule. Coal Miners' Pensions

Mr. President, it is critical that Congress act soon to protect the pensions of our Nation's coal miners. The pension benefits of nearly 100,000 hard-working people are at risk if Congress fails to take action to stabilize the United Mine Workers pension fund.

Over 25,000 current UMWA pension beneficiaries reside in West Virginia, making this a critical issue for communities and families across our State. I have worked in a bipartisan way with Senator Manchin, Senator Portman, Senator Brown, and others over the past several years to support legislation that stabilizes the mine workers' pension fund and protects these men and women and their families.

We are not talking about lavish pensions here. The average beneficiary receives about $590 per month. Retired miners from across West Virginia routinely visit me in my office in DC, write letters, and talk with me as I travel the State. I really appreciate their efforts. We are working hard to make sure that when they tell me how critical their pension check is in allowing them to pay for food, medication, housing, and other essentials, that we don't let this critical issue lapse.

These hard-working men and women deserve the pensions they were promised, and we should make sure they receive the benefits they earned by passing legislation to protect their pensions this year. Confirmation of Frank William Volk

Mr. President, one last issue. The Senate voted earlier today to confirm Frank Volk as our U.S. district judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. It was unanimous, 92 to 0. Judge Volk has been serving as the chief bankruptcy judge in the Southern District since 2015.

Prior to that appointment, he worked as a career law clerk for some of our State's most distinguished jurists, including Judges Charles Haden, John Copenhaver, Blaine Michael, and Margaret Workman. Judge Volk is a graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. For more than a decade, he has taught courses at the law school on topics ranging from bankruptcy to Federal Civil Rights.

I was very pleased that, at my suggestion, President Trump nominated Judge Volk to continue his service on the district court, and I am very pleased about that.

I know he will be a judge who will root his decisions firmly in the text and original meaning of our Constitution and our statutes. I know he will be fair to all parties who appear before him. I know he will bring honor to our Federal judiciary.

Besides all of his legal acumen, which is tremendous, he is a really decent man. He is a great family man who loves his family and has remained very humble through all of his successes.

With our actions today, and I thank my colleagues, the Senate has now confirmed 156 judges nominated by President Trump. That number now includes Judge Volk, as well as Judge Thomas Kleeh, who is now serving as a district judge in the Northern District of West Virginia. It includes 43 judges who now serve on our courts of appeals, and of course it includes two Supreme Court Justices.

It is important that the Senate continue confirming well-qualified men and women who will faithfully apply the law to serve on our Federal courts. I thank my colleagues again for confirming Judge Volk today and hope we will continue to make judicial confirmations a priority as we move forward.

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