Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring a former coal miner as his guest to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.
Howard Abshire, a fourth-generation coal miner who lost his job when his mine shut down, will be at the Capitol as President Obama makes his last State of the Union address. Abshire currently works in a temporary job removing mining equipment from former coalmines in eastern Kentucky.
The invitation is the Kentucky Republican’s latest rebuke of Obama’s plan to push clean energy during the remainder of his tenure.
Obama is expected to use part of the annual speech as a sort of victory lap on climate change policies that has pushed in the past year, including the international Paris Agreement on climate change reached in December.
“Howard, who was a proud Kentucky coal miner, represents the hard-working lifestyle of many people in eastern Kentucky,” McConnell said. “He has spent most of his life working in underground mines to help power our nation. However, the president’s war on coal has devastated coal country and unfortunately contributed to the loss of thousands of jobs in Kentucky, one of which was Howard’s.”
McConnell has helped lead the charge against the Clean Power Plan in Congress and has vowed to fight against the climate deal reached in Paris.
Abshire, who met McConnell in 2012 at a local event, said he’s glad to represent his fellow miners.
“I want to thank Senator McConnell for thinking of eastern Kentucky and inviting me and my wife to attend the State of the Union address. It is a privilege to represent the coal miners in Kentucky at this historic event,” Abshire said.
