Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Jane L. Hough, who passed away on August 11 at the age of 91. She was a friend to me and to many who live in Salem, the city she loved. While most notable as the first woman to serve on Salem's City Council, she contributed in many ways to the welfare of her community.

Jane was born in Norton and grew up in the coalfields of Virginia. She attended Randolph Macon Women's College, where she earned a dual degree in Latin and math. Her son Andy told the Roanoke Times that she still spoke fluent Latin years after graduating, but she drew on her math degree to teach algebra at Andrew Lewis High School.

Jane was a longtime member of the Salem Republican Committee. In 1972, she decided to run for Salem's City Council. She ran as an independent, won, and served three terms, helping Salem find its footing in its early years as an independent city. Her leadership boosted the city's fiscal health. During her tenure, she served on the executive board of the Virginia Municipal League and the National League of Cities' Small City Commission.

Jane's active citizenship in Salem extended beyond her time in elected office. Beside her career as a teacher prior to her time on City Council, she mentored children at the Virginia Baptist Children's Home supervised by her husband Franklin. Beginning in 1953, she also helped beautify the city by planting and landscaping as a member of the Salem Garden Club.

Jane is survived by Franklin, her husband of 69 years; their four children, Frank, Amelia, Jay, and Andy; their four grandchildren, Amy, Morgen, Lucy, and Samantha; and their great-grandchildren, Amelia and Olivia. She will be missed in Salem, the city for which she did so much.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor the 150th anniversary of E. Dillon & Company of Swords Creek, Virginia. Since 1868, E. Dillon & Company has operated in the mining, concrete, and masonry business. It began with Colonel Edward Dillon, a superintendent of construction for the James River and Kanawha Canal Company, and his discovery of limestone deposits in Botetourt County. Dillon built a lime kiln near the Town of Buchanan and began supplying agricultural, masonry, and calcium lime, using the James River to ship his products east.

E. Dillon & Company eventually moved closer to Buchanan and then expanded to a second location in Swords Creek, where the company is now headquartered. Among the items it produces and sells today are construction aggregate, glass dolomite, mineral fillers and extenders, and coal mining products, as well as concrete masonry products. Over 100 employees work at their facility, which overlooks the Clinch River. For its commitment to environmental stewardship and safety, E. Dillon & Company was recognized with an Environmental Quality award in 2017 by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, Division of Gas and Oil and the Virginia Oil and Gas Association.

The world looks very different than it did in 1868, a world of telegraphs and railroads. Today, we have a world of smart phones and reusable rockets. Despite all the changes, E. Dillon & Company still stands as a pillar of Southwest Virginia's economy. E. Dillon & Company will celebrate its milestone anniversary on August 4, 2018. I congratulate all associated with the company on the occasion and extend my best wishes for their continued success.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman very much, and I appreciate my colleague for introducing this amendment.

He is absolutely right. The Clean Air Act never gave the EPA this authority. They just created it out of thin air.

Their rationale is kind of interesting, because they took the authority that said that they could regulate new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines, and then the definition of new motor vehicle meaning any self-propelled vehicle designed for transporting persons or properties on a street or highway, and applied it to trailers. They are not self-propelled.

When I asked Janet McCabe, who was the Acting Director of the Air Division of the EPA, when she came in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee how in the world could they do this, and I presumed she wasn't a lawyer and she said: Well, yes, I am.

I was surprised, because the language is pretty clear. They don't have the ability to do that.

She said: Well, you can't haul any goods if the trailer is not attached to a truck.

That is not in the code. The code says that they only have authority over self-propelled vehicles. They created this out of whole cloth.

It doesn't make any sense to allow an agency to create law. That is our job, and I told her that that day.

I said: Look, you think this needs to be changed, bring in a bill, and we will discuss it.

They have never done that. They don't have authority. We shouldn't fund something that is clearly illegal based on the plain English reading of the terms.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment. I appreciate Chairman Calvert's support as well, and the appropriators' hard work on this.

This was created by Hal Rogers. It is fascinating because what happens is that people say they want us to transition the economy in central Appalachia. This is one of the ways to do that, and it actually saves money.

We have a project in my district that we are close to getting finalized on this, where it would cost $6.7 million to clean up a site, if we did it the normal way. With this program, which we wish to continue, it will only cost the government about 2.5, $2.6 million, and we end up with a site that can be used again for economic development and jobs in Appalachia.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and appreciate the time.

I would say that that is a good bill, and I am glad to have been an original cosponsor with the gentleman from North Carolina on the bill related to making sure that families are not separated.

Now, the previous gentleman also said for us to do our jobs. It is curious, because, as I understand it, part of our job is to make sure that we are overseeing the Federal Government. Our Founding Fathers created something that had never been created before, a checks-and- balance system.

There was supposed to be a natural tension between the various branches, and Congress is supposed to be an equal branch with the power of oversight over the administrative branch to make sure that they are following the laws and to make sure that they are meting out justice evenhandedly. That is what this resolution is about.

But Congress too often sits back and does not do anything. It just says: Oh, well, we can't get that information. We are so sorry. This resolution points out that we have been patiently waiting for some of these documents for years, for months, for weeks, for the administrative branch of government to respond to its coequal branch, the United States Congress, and they have refused to do so.

I would submit that this is a very measured resolution; that it does not immediately call for holding somebody in contempt, or holding somebody to find that somebody should be impeached. It says, instead: Here is the deadline. What we are trying to seek here are the facts. If you are afraid of the facts, then, yes, you stand up on the floor and you rail about all other kinds of issues. But the facts, the truth, needs to come out for the American people.

So I would submit that this resolution is very reasonable and ought to be passed. Because if there is not a response, it is our duty to hold those who do not respond properly in contempt.

Mr. Speaker, it is our duty, as this Congress, to find and to hold in contempt those people who do not respond, and then to take their persons into possession and have them explain to a judge how it is that they plan to purge themselves of that contempt.

It is reasonable that we give them notice before such action is taken.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, this is a bipartisan amendment that incorporates an interagency agreement transmitted to Congress by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the United States Department of Justice.

It clarifies several issues: when the Attorney General can temporarily and permanently schedule a drug or substance to the newly created schedule A, and it prevents the Attorney General from permanently scheduling a drug or substance if the Secretary of HHS determines that there is not sufficient potential for abuse.

It also clarifies when research can be conducted with a schedule A substance while a registration application is pending. If an applicant is registered to conduct research with a schedule I or II substance, they can continue to do research they may be pursuing with a schedule A substance while their application is being processed.

Likewise, if an applicant is registered to conduct research with a schedule III, IV, or V substance, they can continue to conduct research with a schedule A substance while their application is pending, so long as the component that gave rise to the schedule A determination is in the same or a less restricted schedule.

This amendment is important to research. This amendment will help ensure that research is not impeded or stunted because of a change in the schedule of a substance. While we all want to get dangerous substances off the street, history has taught us that when a substance is scheduled, many research options are taken off the table or made prohibitively complicated.

Sometimes derivatives of dangerous substances can provide cures and treatments for deadly diseases or chronic conditions, and we don't want to hamstring our researchers who are equipped to discover potential positive uses.

Though it may still need to be a scheduled substance, an analogue, in theory, could be a less addictive term of an opioid pain relief, and if researchers are looking at it as a possible less addictive form, I believe we would all want to keep that research going and not impede that research as it moves forward.

So I believe this is an important amendment, and I hope everybody will join me in supporting it. I thank Mr. Raskin and Ms. Jackson Lee for their assistance and support of this amendment as well.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield as much time as he might consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino).

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and Ranking Member Pallone for his help on this bill.

The CONNECTIONS Act, as the chairman has stated, deals with state-run prescription drug monitoring programs which are widely recognized as an important tool in fighting the opioid epidemic. These programs enable providers to better identify patients who may be at risk for abuse of opioid prescriptions. This is a critical first step in preventing abuse by those who may be vulnerable.

The bill will improve Federal support for state-run prescription drug monitoring programs to empower those States to successfully implement improvements and build off of their existing programs.

Now, the legislation facilitates more widespread use by the providers. So what we are trying to do is, right now we have 49 of 50 States that have PDMPs or prescription drug monitoring programs. They all are trying to talk to each other.

And particularly, when you have a district like mine, which kind of forms a sort of a triangle in the southwest corner of Virginia, you can get to West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee all within a single day, without any problem. And if you are a physician in those areas, you need to know if your patient may have driven a few miles across the line in an attempt to get more prescription drugs than maybe they ought to be taking.

So what the PDMPs are supposed to do is to let the physician know what is going on. But if our State prescription drug monitoring programs don't have the ability to talk to one another or interact efficiently, that creates a delay or a dilemma for the physician who is trying to do the right thing and monitor what is going on and see about those who may be vulnerable or about to step into an arena that they really don't want to get into, but they are suffering pain and they think this is the way to go. We want to stop that. We want to help the physicians.

What this bill does is it allows the physicians and allows the PDMPs run by the States to have more interactivity between the two or between the three or four or five, as the case may be, as it would be in my district.

So the PDMPs are especially valuable for districts like mine, as we have discussed; and the pharmacies and doctors in other States who are just a stone's throw away who can come back in and check to see what is going on. This legislation will give these States that ability. It is a good, bipartisan bill, and I do appreciate Ranking Member Pallone for working on this with me in a bipartisan fashion.

I also appreciate greatly the leadership of our chairman, Chairman Walden, for making this a major issue and allowing us to put forward so many bills, both this week and next, that deal with this very serious concern; and this is one step in the right direction to making sure that we try to ensure that folks don't go down the path of abuse.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Virginia Tech President Emeritus Charles William Steger, Jr., who passed away on May 6, 2018 at the age of 70. He was a Hokie through-and-through, and he guided the university to great achievements, bringing new acclaim to this beacon of higher learning in Southwest Virginia.

Dr. Steger devoted most of his adult life to Virginia Tech. He graduated from the university in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in architecture, followed by a master's degree in the same subject the following year and a Ph.D. in environmental sciences and engineering in 1978. Before becoming president in 2000, he taught and held numerous administrative posts, including dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, acting vice president for public services, and vice president for development and university relations.

As president of Virginia Tech from 2000 to 2014, Dr. Steger led the university to new heights. He presided over growth in enrollment and the construction of 40 major new buildings, including the arts center, the Virginia Tech Research Center--Arlington, and the College of Engineering's Goodwin Hall. Research blossomed as the university's expenditures in this area grew from $192 million to over $450 million during his tenure. He was passionate about raising Virginia Tech's profile in fields which promise the jobs of tomorrow, establishing a school of biomedical engineering and helping to bring together the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute. Under the leadership of Dr. Steger, Virginia Tech grew in size, reputation, and academic excellence.

It is hard to imagine a more terrible event to face a university president than the horrific shooting that took place at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. During that time of agony and grief, Dr. Steger led the university with remarkable dignity.

Many honors and awards recognized Dr. Steger for his contributions to education, including the Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Chief Executive Leadership Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, District III, and the Compass Award from the New Century Technology Council. After retiring from Virginia Tech's presidency, Dr. Steger became executive director of the Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience.

I, along with many in Virginia and across the nation, held Dr. Charles William Steger, Jr. in the highest esteem.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Janet, his son Christopher Steger and wife Elizabeth Schumann, and his son David Steger and fiancee Alison Nemeth. He will forever be remembered by the Virginia Tech community he loved and led.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Charles William Steger, Jr., along with Rob Wittman, who is an alumnus of Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, Virginia Tech President Emeritus Charles William Steger, Jr., passed away last night at the age of 70. He was a Hokie through and through, and he guided the university to great achievements.

He earned three degrees himself from Virginia Tech, and before becoming president, he taught and held numerous posts. As president of Virginia Tech from 2000 to 2014, Dr. Steger led the university to new heights. He presided over growth and enrollment. Forty major new buildings were constructed. Research expenditures grew from $192 million to $450 million. He established the school of biomedical engineering and helped bring together the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute.

He also had the burden of leading Virginia Tech through the shooting on that horrific April day in 2007. In the aftermath, he led with remarkable dignity. He received many honors during his lifetime, and I, along with many in Virginia and across this Nation, held Dr. Charles William Steger, Jr., in the highest esteem.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Janet; his son, Christopher Steger, and wife, Elizabeth Schumann; and his son, David Steger, and fiance, Alison Nemeth.

Mr. Speaker, if we could all pray a prayer tonight for the family of Charles Steger.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all of the work that Chairman Burgess has done on this issue. It is important that he has highlighted it and made it one of the priorities of our committee--not only our subcommittee, but our full committee.

Earlier this evening, we heard from Representatives from Kentucky and from West Virginia. When you look at the map, you will see that my congressional district, the Ninth District of Virginia, touches West Virginia, touches Kentucky, and touches North Carolina. What this means to all of us is this--and it touches Tennessee, of course. It means that, if you really worked at it, in my district, you could get to various doctors and various pharmacists in just a couple of days.

In that small corner of Virginia, you can travel into other States. You can hit five States in a single day. This is why I have been working on some language for prescription drug monitoring, where the States will be encouraged to work together to try to make sure that we are sharing information. All of the States--or most of the States now-- have such a program, but they don't always have the language down the same way.

What we have to do as one of a dozen, two dozen, or three dozen things that we are looking at in trying to help resolve this opioid crisis is that we need to make sure that we have people looking at it and making sure that those folks who are addicted and are trying to get prescriptions from different doctors and using different pharmacies are not able to do so, to make sure that our programs are working together. It is very important that we continue to work.

While I say that it is important, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate so much that Chairman Burgess is holding a roundtable tomorrow as part of our Health Subcommittee that will be bipartisan, where we are bringing in families from around the country who have suffered a loss, who have a loved one who has died. And while we are not taking any votes on the floor tomorrow, the Health Subcommittee will be meeting because this is just too important to leave Washington without hearing from these important voices, from these people who can bring to us real-life stories.

We have all heard them in our communities. We have all probably had family members who have been touched by it. But to hear from these families tomorrow, I think, is going to be very special and very poignant, and I appreciate it. I think that we all have something that we can learn.

And then, Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about pill dumping, because we do have to take a look. We have a hearing coming up with some of the pharmacies that manufacture these opioids.

But we know that in West Virginia, they were dropping millions of pills into communities there--into Williamson, into Kermit, and into Mount Gay-Shamrock. As a result of that, those drugs not only went into West Virginia, but some of those pharmacies that were shut down eventually by the DEA were just a few miles--32 miles, 34 miles--from my district and from districts in Kentucky.

We need to find out: Why were they allowing this to happen? Why were they perhaps encouraging it to happen? We don't know the answers yet, but we are going to have a hearing on that. The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is looking into that matter, as well, and has already got lots of information.

We are looking at what was going on in the DEA and why they didn't use their power of an immediate suspension order. When they had the authority to do so, Mr. Speaker, it was shocking to discover that they chose, instead, to come up with a trial standard.

As opposed to a standard to stop something bad from happening immediately, they chose to have a trial standard, to have all the proof already wrapped up with a nice bow on it. As a part of that, we ended up with a lot of drug stores that continue to use a cash business for operating. Even though the DEA knew there were problems, they wanted to have expert witnesses come in in advance.

This is not acceptable. We are working with the DEA to stop that procedure and to make sure that, if there are any changes in the law that are necessary to give them more tools, they can shut down somebody quickly when they see a pattern of abuse.

Mr. Speaker, the Energy and Commerce Committee is working hard on all of these issues, and, particularly, we are working to make sure that we give the various agencies and the States the authority to help shut down this horrible, treacherous, and dangerous opioid crisis in these United States.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor William B. ``Bill'' Zimmerman, Jr., of Covington. Bill passed away on November 6, 2017 at the age of 74. He was a fixture in the community who gave generously of himself to his fellow residents of the Alleghany Highlands.

Bill cared deeply about the place where he grew up and spent his life. He graduated from Covington High School in 1960, and later in life he advised the school's Jayteens. He worked as a Director of the Alleghany Highlands Office on Youth Program and as a diversion specialist for Alleghany County and the City of Covington.

Residents of Covington knew him as a longtime councilman who fulfilled his duties with integrity and dedication. From 1976 to 1980 and again from 1998 until his passing, Bill served as District 1's representative on the Covington City Council, and for a time also served as Vice Mayor.

Bill also contributed to various boards and organizations with his time and his talents. Among his contributions to the Alleghany Historical Society was a grand piano. Even as his health declined, he continued to sing in the Granbery Memorial United Methodist Church choir.

It is hard to think of Covington without remembering Bill Zimmerman. During parades in Covington, I grew accustomed to seeing him on the same street corner greeting people. I offer my condolences to his family, his friends (of which I was one), and the City of Covington on this great loss.

Mr. Speaker, I honor the life of Lloyd Clinton ``Sonny'' Martin of Pennington Gap. Sonny passed away on March 8, 2018 at the age of 82. He was a man who devoted himself to helping people in Lee County, whether his customers or his community at large.

Sonny made his living as a community banker, spending over 60 years in the business, most notably at Powell Valley National Bank (PVNB). He began as a loan officer, subsequently rose to president and chief executive officer, and remained active on the board until the end of his life. In addition, he served two terms as a member of the Virginia Bankers Association Board of Directors. Devoted to helping people, and talented at it, Sonny made customer service a hallmark of his career. According to PVNB Executive Vice President Leton Harding as quoted in the Kingsport Times-News, Sonny's philosophy was, ``We are a true community bank serving everyone in the community.''

Sonny improved Southwest Virginia through his career, but he found other ways to do so as well. As a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, first as a representative of the Bristol District and then as an at-large member for rural areas, he advocated for Southwest Virginia's interests. After Lee County's hospital closed in 2013, he led the search for ways to reopen it. He also served on the Pennington Gap Town Council. Sonny was a veteran of the United States Army and a member of the First Baptist Church in Pennington Gap. In 2004, he cast a vote for president as an elector in the Elector College. In recognition of his contributions to the Commonwealth of Virginia, he received the Patrick Henry Award.

Survivors include Sonny's wife of 59 years, Joyce, daughters Mary Virginia ``Jennie'' and husband Scott Joy and Karen and husband Tony LaScola, and granddaughters Lauren and Carolyn Joy. I offer my condolences to his family, as well as my gratitude for all his services on behalf of Southwest Virginia.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard people say that they don't want to support a bill that makes things worse. We have people who are terminal, whose life expectancy is measured in months, not in decades, and how do you make things worse?

I said last week, and I repeat it today, that if I--if, and I am not, thank God--but if I were faced with one of these heart-rendering situations, I would take any risk, including injecting monkey urine, if that meant I could spend a few more days, months, or years with my children.

I think many people are in that same boat, and the American people deserve a right to try. When we were doing our hearings on this, we had an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing where Lieutenant Commander Matthew Bellina, who graduated from Virginia Tech in my district and served in the United States Navy, testified before us. He said, in the conclusion of his comments: ``I know that it is probably too late for me, and I have made my peace with that. I need to know before I die that, if my children find themselves in this unenviable position, this Nation that I proudly served will respect their liberties and their right to make their own decisions about their medical treatments.''

He suffered from ALS, as I said. I have had three friends during my lifetime die of that: Ray Robrecht, my predecessor a couple terms back in the Virginia House of Delegates; Julie Mullins, whose family I have known for decades; and Mike Ahern, who was connected with the United States Senate through his sister. All of these folks were people who lived in Salem County or Roanoke County, and they all died from ALS. They were all brave people. They should have had the right to try to see if they could make an improvement for others.

Even more poignant are my family friends who lost both a grandparent and their mother to Huntington's chorea. I was their family lawyer. I did their will. I would like to believe, and I know they would have liked the option, that their mother would have chosen the right to try, knowing that, even if it failed, it might help another generation because, as you know, Huntington's chorea is a genetically transmitted disease.

So I do not understand why people are afraid of letting people try who have no other hope, whose life is going to be cut short, without taking that Hail Mary pass. And so I hope that everyone will support this reasonable, measured effort to let people have a choice and a right to try.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Walden for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard people say that this bill gives folks a false hope. There is no false hope.

They know it is a Hail Mary pass. They know it is unlikely to succeed, but they are willing to make the decision and the choice to take that chance.

I have heard that patients will be at risk, that they lose their safeguards. They have received a terminal diagnosis. They know they are at risk. They don't care about safeguards. They want to fight for life. They know they have that terminal disease or diagnosis and they may lose a few weeks, as we heard from my colleague, but they may gain years, and they are willing to take that risk.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you, if I had a terminal diagnosis, I would even consider injecting monkey urine if I thought it would give me a few more months or a few more years with my children, who are currently 18, 12, and 10. Others may choose not to try something. They may not want the right to try. They may not want to try the Hail Mary pass, but they should have the choice. They should have the right to try.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise, on behalf of Congressman Bobby Scott and myself, to recognize the achievements of Ron Carson who has made the plight of tens of thousands of disabled coal miners a central part of his life's work. Through his decades of work directing three black lung clinics in Southwest Virginia, and tireless advocacy efforts across the coal fields of this country, he offered help and hope to miners whose lungs were irreversibly scarred with the scourge of black lung disease.

Ron was born in Pennington Gap, Virginia during segregation. He attended a one-room primary school on land that his great-great- grandmother, Rachael Scott, had donated in 1939 for education of black children in Lee County. Ron and his wife Jill, a Member of the Town Council in Pennington Gap, founded the Appalachian African American Cultural Center in that same brick school house, which now preserves the life stories, history, heritage, culture and events of African Americans in Southwest Virginia. Although segregated in housing and schools, African Americans found a measure of inclusion in Central Appalachia, where they were able to work free from the harsh conditions in the Deep South, ad many received equal pay for their work mining coal.

Ron worked for Westmoreland Coal Co. in Appalachia, Virginia as did his stepfather. His grandfather and great-grandfather both worked for many years for Blue Diamond Coal in Bonny Blue, Virginia. Ron later attended the Massachusetts School of Pharmacy, and in 1990 returned as an outreach worker in the black lung clinic operating out of the St. Charles Community Health Clinic. For the past 20 years he has served as the director of three black lung clinics which are now part of Stone Mountain Health Services. In addition to helping miners secure diagnostic tests, treatment and benefits counseling, Ron led an effort to develop what is now the largest program for non-lawyers to successfully advocate for black lung benefits before the U.S. Department of Labor.

There are very few attorneys who represent miners filing claims for black lung benefits. And, coal miners proceedings pro se are no match for the expert legal and medical resources that coal companies and insurers dedicate to each case. Ron and his team have worked to fill this void by providing training for clinics, doctors, lawyers and lay representatives in all 15 coal producing states. The lay advocates working for the Stone Mountain clinics have helped miners win over 2,000 black lung claims in the past 17 years.

In recent years, Ron documented how miners with progressive massive fibrosis (PMF), the most advanced form of black lung disease, have flooded the clinics in southwestern Virginia. Working with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), he recently co- authored an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association which verified an epidemic of this lethal form of the disease in Central Appalachia and helped to elevate national awareness. ``Mining disasters get monuments, meanwhile black lung deaths get tombstones. And I've seen many a tombstone in the last 28 years from black lung,'' he noted.

At a roundtable Ron organized in Wise, Virginia, disabled miners, physicians and lawyers explained how the current black lung adjudication process keeps justice out of teach for fat too many deserving miners and survivors.

Ron Carson has been accessible to Members of Congress and provided wise counsel, as well as compassionate and enduring service to his community. He has been recognized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and his peers in the black lung community. On behalf of out colleagues in the House of Representatives, Congressman Scott and I extend out appreciation for Ron's service to those in need.