Bluefield Daily Telegraph: Jenkins hopes to use his position to target EPA’s purse

WASHINGTON —  U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., is hoping to use his appointment to the powerful House Appropriations Committee as a way to fight for coal and coal miners. Specifically, he is hoping to control the purse of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

“I am every confident that this Congress is going to be aggressive in fighting the war on coal,” Jenkins, who spoke to the Daily Telegraph Thursday before casting votes on the  Save Americans Workers Act and the Keystone XL Pipeline Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, said. “And that’s why on the day after the election on Nov. 4, I went to work campaigning for a good committee assignment, and I was one of two freshmen (lawmakers) appointed to the Appropriations Committee, one of the foremost powerful committees in the U.S. House. I sought that position for two reasons. One to help direct funding for much-needed critical projects in West Virginia. The Appropriations Committee is responsible for $1.2 trillion of discretionary funding each year. The other reason I fought for the Appropriations Committee appointment to use the power of the purse in fighting the anti-coal agenda of Barack Obama through the EPA’s budget. The power of the purse is a powerful tool. I’ve sought to use that position — to use that tool — to fight for our coal miners and our coal communities.”

Jenkins said the EPA must have funding to pursue its anti-coal agenda.

“This administration is making no bones about it,” Jenkins said. “They are using the tools — every tool available and that includes the EPA — to wage a war on coal. And the EPA like every federal agency depends upon its budget to do its work.”

Jenkins said he hopes to also use his position on the House Appropriations Committee to advance critical southern West Virginia highway projects, including the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway.

“The King Coal Highway, the Coalfields Expressway, the bridge to nowhere (in Bluefield), the transportation investment is like fighting the war on coal,” Jenkins said. “It is an absolute top priority for me. It is so frustrating to see that the transportation needs over the last literally decades have been a mile here, a mile there, but we don’t get the job done. These last couple of years the Highway Trust Funds has been on the verge of bankruptcy, and Congress has not been able to put together a long-term highway funding bill. There is a lot of talk here about trying to do the reauthorization of a multi-year package, and making a long-term investment, and getting projects like the King Coal Highway back on track.”

Jenkins voted in support Thursday of the Save American Workers Act, legislation which would restore the federal definition of full-time employment to 40 hours a week. He also voted in support of the Keystone XL Pipeline Act legislation.

Jenkins said the Affordable Care Act, also more commonly known as Obamacare,   redefined full-time employment as 30 hours a week, jeopardizing the paychecks of many American workers facing cutbacks in hours. The Save American Workers Act would restore the federal definition of full-time employment to 40 hours a week. It passed the House Thursday by a vote of 252 to 172.

Jenkins said the measure could face the threat of a veto by Obama.