Cite as: 534 U. S. 438 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
Rec. 34002 (1992).13 The Commissioner also points to Senator Rockefeller's statement that "[t]he term 'signatory operator,' as defined in new section 9701(c)(1), includes a successor in interest of such operator." Id., at 34033.14
Floor statements from two Senators cannot amend the clear and unambiguous language of a statute. We see no reason to give greater weight to the views of two Senators than to the collective votes of both Houses, which are memorialized in the unambiguous statutory text.15
13 Placed in its proper context, this statement is entirely consistent with the statutory text. Senator Wallop noted first that the bill makes "each such related person fully responsible for the signatory operator's obligation to provide benefits under the Act should the signatory no longer be in business, or otherwise fail to fulfill its obligations under the Act." 138 Cong. Rec., at 34002 (emphasis added). After listing the three categories of related persons, Senator Wallop then added category (iv): "in specific instances successors to the collective bargaining agreement obligations of a signatory operator—are equally obligated with the signatory operator to pay for continuing health care coverage." Ibid. (emphasis added). To begin with, it must be noted that Senator Wallop did not state that all successors are responsible for the beneficiaries. Rather, he narrowed the group with the qualifying phrase "in specific instances." And Senator Wallop did not suggest that responsibility attaches to successors in interest to signatory operators. Instead, the "successors to the collective bargaining agreement obligations" are nothing more than those entities that he previously identifies as "fully responsible for the signatory operator's obligation": the related persons categorized in clauses (i)-(iii). Consequently, the statement is consistent with the final sentence of the related persons definition which provides that "[a] related person shall also include a successor in interest of any person described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii)." § 9701(c)(2)(A).
14 We need look to only the statutory text to know that the definition in fact does not include the successor in interest. See § 9701(c)(1) ("The term 'signatory operator' means a person which is or was a signatory to a coal wage agreement"). See supra, at 455.
15 Despite the dissent's assertion that we should defer to what it characterizes as "clear evidence of coherent congressional intent," post, at 462 (opinion of Stevens, J.), the dissent points to only two sentences in the Congressional Record. Even if we were to believe that floor statements
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