Cite as: 534 U. S. 438 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
that imposes liability on the successors of the companies that fall within the categories of §§ 9701(c)(2)(A)(i)-(iii) but not on successors to the signatory operators themselves. Dissatisfied with the text of the statute, the Commissioner attempts to search for and apply an overarching legislative purpose to each section of the statute. Dissatisfaction, however, is often the cost of legislative compromise. And negotiations surrounding enactment of this bill tell a typical story of legislative battle among interest groups, Congress, and the President. See supra, at 445-446, and nn. 6-7. Indeed, this legislation failed to ease tensions among many of the interested parties.20 Its delicate crafting reflected a compromise amidst highly interested parties attempting to pull the provisions in different directions. See, e. g., 6 Legislative History 4569-4571. As such, a change in any individual provision could have unraveled the whole. It is quite possible that a bill that assigned liability to successors of signatory operators would not have survived the legislative process. The deals brokered during a Committee markup, on the floor of the two Houses, during a joint House and Senate Conference, or in negotiations with the President, however, are not for us to judge or second-guess.
Our role is to interpret the language of the statute enacted by Congress. This statute does not contain conflicting provisions or ambiguous language. Nor does it require a narrowing construction or application of any other canon or interpretative tool. "We have stated time and again that courts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what
20 The UMWA's lobbying efforts precipitated a lawsuit by the Pittston Coal Company, which sued the UMWA for $250 million, alleging "that at the conclusion of the 1989-1990 strike, the union promised not to lobby on behalf of legislation making 'reachback' companies resume payments to the" retiree health system. UMW Denies Breaching Pittston Pact, 17 Coal Outlook, Dec. 6, 1993, 1993 WL 2678868. "Pittston accused the union of violating a promise not to lobby for industry wide taxation to bail out two retiree health funds." UMW, Pittston Reach Tentative Deal, 18 Coal Outlook, June 20, 1994, 1994 WL 2480375.
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