This is what's wrong with Washington:
Reacting to the string of tragedies, several House Democratic leaders called on the mining industry this week to rethink its opposition to tougher safety measures.
“In the coming weeks Congress will be working on reforms to the Mine Act to close enforcement loopholes, strengthen MSHA’s oversight and provide more federal resources to close the growing backlog of citation appeals,” Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, wrote to industry leaders Thursday. “We urge the mining industry to drop its historic record of opposing critical mine safety improvements and instead work with Congress and the Obama Administration to pass overdue reforms.”
Unless the mining industry was given some secret power to keep Congress from acting, the only thing stopping overdue reform is Congress ... well, that and money from the mining industry of course.