The President: Okay.
We had an exciting news conference before.
And some people loved it.
I think nobody hated it, but it was -- I think it
was very productive.
And thank you all for being there,
that was very nice.
And thank you, all of the wonderful politicians, but
-- right, Mitch, especially the miners that
are with us, right?
So I just want to thank you. Seriously.
(Applause.)
We appreciate it.
We appreciate it very much.
And this is our second bill signing this week as
we continue to work for the American people.
This is H.J.
Resolution 38, and that will eliminate another
terrible job-killing rule, saving many thousands of
American jobs, especially in the mines, which I've
been promising you.
The mines are a big deal.
I've had support from some of you folks right from
the very beginning, and I won't forget it.
I went to West Virginia and I -- we had 17,000,
18,000 people that couldn't get into that
big arena, right?
You were a few of them.
But that was some day and some night.
I want to thank Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority
Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Natural Resources
Committee Chairman Rob Bishop -- thank you, Rob
-- and Representative Bill Johnson, who worked very
hard on this bill.
And they really did, they worked very hard.
This was a tough one.
I also want to thank the great members of Congress
who have joined us today.
We have a lot of them.
In eliminating this rule, I am continuing to keep my
promise to the American people to get rid of
wasteful regulations that do nothing -- absolutely
nothing -- but slow down the economy, hamstring
companies, push jobs to other countries -- which
is happening all over, although I must tell you,
we've stopped it.
You've seen all the factories, all the plants
that are moving back.
They're going back to a lot of places.
So you know that, right, fellas?
They're moving back fast.
Ford, General Motors, Fiat -- so many.
Very happy.
Compliance costs for this rule would be over $50
million a year for the coal industry alone,
and it's unnecessary.
I want to also thank the incredible coal miners who
are with us today.
I think we can maybe thank them the most, right, for
-- political leaders.
(Applause.)
You folks have put up with a lot.
And you know, in other countries, they
love their coal.
Over here, we haven't treated it with the
respect it deserves.
Even for defense, having that coal is a very
important thing for us.
So I want to thank you all.
This rule we're eliminating it's a major
threat to your jobs, and we're going to get rid of
that threat immediately.
We're going to fight for you like I promised I
would in the campaign.
And you were very good to me, and I'm going to be
even better to you, I promise you that.
And we're going to fight for, also, low-energy
prices for all Americans.
There's a spirit of optimism rising
across the country.
It's going to continue to grow as we sign
more and more bills.
We're going to make our nation more than
competitive -- not just competitive, we're going
to be more than competitive.
And we're going to win at many, many industries.
We're already starting back with the
automobile industry.
We had the airline industry in the other day.
They have rules and regulations that by the
time they get through it, it's -- nothing left, and
they have to get rid of a lot of jobs.
We had a great meeting, actually.
We had the unions in.
We had the workers in.
We had a lot of people in, and they were all very
excited about what's happening.
And I haven't looked yet at the stock market, but
it's been going up at record clips.
We have a tremendous streak going on.
And that's only because of the optimism.
They feel the optimism.
And that optimism is creating a lot of jobs.
So it's an honor to have everybody with us, and, in
particular, the miners.
We appreciate everything you've done, fellas.
Thank you very much.
Would anybody like to say a few words?
How about one of the miners saying a few words?
I hear these guys all the time.
I hear Rand all the time.
(Laughter.)
Come on.
Who'd like to -- come on, Mike.
Mr. Nelson: President Trump, we thank you very
much for everything you've done for us.
Everything that you're doing for our industry is
very much needed.
I've been mining in this industry for 40 years, and
this is a very exciting time for our industry.
Thank you very much.
The President: Thank you very much.
Senator Manchin: Tell him where you're from, Mike.
Mr. Nelson: I'm from Morgantown, West Virginia,
but I work at the Marion County Coal Company.
The President: How did I do in that area?
Mr. Nelson: Oh, you did great.
(Laughter and applause.)
The President: Good. Good.
Say something.
Congresswoman Capito: Well, President Trump --
The President: You're a -- you represent.
Congresswoman Capito: Yes.
Representing West Virginia as the Senator, and
Senator Manchin and I, and we have our congressional
delegation here -- Congressman Jenkins,
Congressman McKinley, and Congressman Mooney.
This is a lifeline to us, and these miners, they
mine in West Virginia.
It's a source of pride for us as a state that we've
been able to power this country, and that we've
had the opportunity to provide the energy
to this country.
And thank you for being a partner with us and being
a leader, President Trump, in this.
We believe in this, and we believe in your commitment
to making sure American miners get back to work.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you.
(Applause.)
Senator Paul: This is a big day
for Kentucky.
We want to thank President Trump for getting rid of
this job-killing regulation.
It was scheduled to cost us thousands of more jobs.
Nobody seemed to care about Kentucky, but I can
promise you, Eastern Kentucky voted about 75
percent for Donald J. Trump.
(Applause.)
Senator Manchin: Let me just say
something very quickly.
There's not a miner here that's not an
environmentalist.
So when people say that we don't want to do the right
thing -- there's a balance between the environment
and the economy, these miners would be the first
ones to tell you.
They're out in the woods, they're hunting, they're
fishing, they're doing everything possible.
All they want is the respect that -- basically
they've given us the country we have because of
the hard work of them and their fathers and
grandfathers and all of their family has done.
So I'm so proud.
These are all West Virginians too.
Makes it even prouder for all of us.
So thank you.
God bless you.
Leader McConnell: Well, Mr. President, you know
that the last eight years brought a depression -- a
depression -- to Eastern Kentucky, and our folks
are so excited to have a pro-coal President.
And we thank you so much for being on our side.
(Applause.)
The President: Anybody else?
Come on. Sure. Absolutely.
You deserve it.
Leader McConnell: Thank you, Mr. President.
The President: You deserve it.
Come on up.
Participant: Well, Mr. President, this is an
example of what you talked about so much
during your campaign.
This is what is going to make America great again.
This is the legislative branch and you working
together to keep the promise that you made to
put coal miners back to work and to
save the coal industry.
If we had not overturned this rule, we were looking
at nearly 70,000 jobs across the country, and
about 80 percent of our coal reserves
being unavailable.
So thank you for your willingness to work with
us to get this done.
It's very, very important to the coal miners of this
country and to our electricity grid.
Thank you, Mr. President.
(Applause.)
Participant: As a 45-year miner,
I'm very proud to be in this historic building, and I
am very proud to be here with my President of the
United States, who keeps his word.
And we thank you very much, sir.
The President: It's a great honor.
(Applause.)
So I want to thank everybody.
And tell your friends back in West Virginia and
Kentucky and all the other places where we worked --
Wyoming --
Senator Heitkamp: North Dakota.
Representative Jordan: Ohio.
The President: North Dakota. Ohio.
Representative Lamborn: Colorado.
The President: You're right about that.
They have been fantastic.
Everybody's been -- actually, everybody's been
great, and we appreciate it very much.
Special people.
Special workers.
We're bringing it back,
and we're bringing it back fast.
We didn't have to wait a long period of time.
It's been very few days since I've been here, and
I think this is long ahead of schedule, right?
Wouldn't you say even --
Senator Manchin: Absolutely.
The President: Even you might say -- (laughter) --
this is about four years faster than they thought
would have happened.
So it's my honor.
And, fellas, go back to work, all right?
I think we'll take them into the Oval Office, right?
Let's take them into the Oval Office.
Let's have a little tour, okay?
They've probably been there many times before.
(Laughter.)
Come on.
Come with me. Good.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, very much.
Aide: Sign the bill here.
The President: Oh.
(Laughter.) I could have gotten away with it.
Participant: It's the important part.
(The President signs the Bill)
The President: So how about we give the pen, which is a
great pen. To the miners.
(applause)
-- even though shes sort of a Democrat.
(laughter)
The President: Thank you very much everybody.