A congressman who represents coal country has thrown down the gauntlet to President Obama and dared him to pick it up.

As the Environmental Protection Agency intensifies its crusade against fossil fuels, the backbone of America’s energy, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., waved an invitation he sent to Obama at a press conference on Wednesday, asking him to come to coal country to see for himself, CNSNews reported.

“I want him to get off of the back nine and come into the mines,” Kelly announced. “I want to get his golf cap off and get his hard hat on.”

Kelly, who represents northwestern Pennsylvania, an area replete with mining businesses, compared EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy’s war on power plants as an internal form of terrorism, in a speech before the Heritage Foundation on Monday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opened the dramatic press conference held on the steps of the Capitol, by describing the pain already inflicted by the EPA in his home state.

“In Eastern Kentucky we’ve lost 7,000 coal mining jobs during the Obama years,” he said. It hasn’t always been that way –we actually gained over 3,000 during the Bush years.”

Arrogant Obama mocks GOP criticism of
executive orders: ‘Stop just hatin’ all the time’

“America’s Got Talent” finalist Jimmy Rose then sang his hit song, “Coal Keeps the Lights On,” which highlights the crucial role coal plays in the lives of so many thousands.

Contrasting Kelly’s invitation to meet people in need, to learn that coal has always been “the workhorse of this nation’s economy,” the White House released a feel-good video on Tuesday, showing press secretary Josh Earnest inviting Obama groupies who had written him fawning letters, to meet for dinner when he visits their home town.

Kentucky’s other Republican Senator, Rand Paul, also spoke at the press conference. He bashed the president for failing to understand that it’s the legislative branch and not the executive that passes laws in this country.

“The greenhouse law or regulation [Clean Power Plan] won’t pass Congress so he’s going around Congress,” he said. “I say to the president, ‘Come to our state and see the despair. But also read the Constitution –this isn’t the way that it should be.’”

President Obama will neither pick up the gauntlet nor sing Rose’s song. He has a tee time to meet.

Watch “Coal Keeps the Lights On” via MRC TV:

• Author
• Recent Posts

Richard Berkow

Former political news reporter Richard Berkow lost his idealism in the Kennedy years, and his innocence in Vietnam, Lebanon, and the Soviet Union. He hasn’t mellowed since, and can be harassed at [email protected]

Latest posts by Richard Berkow (see all)

• New campaign ad sees national security as a game-changer: ‘Vote as if your life depends upon it’ - September 11, 2014
• McCain pounds Jay Carney over president’s Iraqi blundering: ‘You don’t have the facts!’ - September 11, 2014
• White House denies family’s claim Sotloffwas ‘sold’ to ISIS by ‘US-friendly moderates’ - September 10, 2014

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.