Miners Protection Act Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Capito: Miners' Healthcare Benefits a Priority

West Virginia’s Congressional leaders will be asked to vote this week on a bill to fund the government through April 2017, but that bill may also be the only hope for thousands of coal miners set to lose their healthcare benefits at the end of the year.

West Virginia Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito have been trying for more than a year to get Congress to pass the Miners Protection Act.

The bill takes money out of a fund used to clean up abandoned mines and puts it into a fund that pays for the pension and healthcare benefits of thousands of coal miners, many right here in West Virginia.

With the decline of the coal industry, however, that fund is quickly running out of money and it will take Congressional intervention to fix it.

But the Miners Protection Act won’t be put to a vote before Congress heads home for their scheduled holiday break this week.

Instead, Sen. Manchin said last week the funding would be added to a continuing resolution that would fund federal government operations through the spring. That resolution must be approved by Friday, when previous funding legislation runs out.

Manchin said, however, it was unlikely funding for both the healthcare and pension pieces would be included.

At a press conference in Charleston Monday morning, Capito said she had not seen the continuing resolution written in the House of Representatives, but that she was fighting for the benefits of more than 16,000 miners and retirees will lose their healthcare at the end of the month if Congress does not step in.

The press conference included both Republican state and federal leaders Monday.

“That’s priority one, I think, is to preserve the healthcare benefits for those that are getting ready to lose it,” Capito said.

“We don’t know exactly how this is going to roll out, but it better roll out that those folks are going to get the healthcare that they deserve.”

Capito said if funding to save the pension benefits of retired miners is not included in the federal government funding bill this week, she is committed to returning to them later.

Could the Fight Over Miners’ Benefits Lead to a Government Shutdown?

Sen. Joe Manchin is attempting to put pressure on Congressional leaders in Washington to take quick action on a bill to save the healthcare and pension benefits of thousands of coal miners.

On a conference call with reporters Thursday, Manchin said he is working with members of both the U.S. House and Senate to pass the Miners Protection Act.

The bill transfers mine reclamation money to a fund that provides healthcare and pension benefits for tens of thousands of miners across the country. That fund is drying up and without Congressional intervention, nearly 13,000 miners, retirees and their families will lose the benefits by the end of the year with more to come the following year.

Manchin said the Miners Protection Act is not likely to be taken up in Congress’ December session, but instead, the provisions will be rolled into a continuing resolution needed to fund the federal government.

That bill must be approved by Dec. 9 to avoid a federal government shutdown, but Manchin isn’t so sure it will include the necessary funding to save miners’ pensions.

“I don’t want to give false hope to anybody,” Manchin said. “I think our chances are much better right now from what I’m understanding, from what I’m hearing, on the healthcare–but we’re not going to quit fighting for the pension too.”

Manchin says the Senate’s Democratic caucus is prepared to block the funding bill if it doesn’t include the nearly $3 billion to fund the benefits. He added he doesn’t want to encourage a government shutdown, but is willing to do “whatever it takes” to find a solution.

W.Va. Senators Applaud Committee Passage of Miner Protection Act

A federal bill to protect the pensions and health care benefits of thousands of retired miners is one step closer to becoming law.

Both of West Virginia’s senators are urging its passage by the end of the year.

The Miners Protection Act passed out of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on an 18-8 vote Wednesday.

Sen. Joe Manchin introduced the bill last summer to help shore up what he calls a “promise made to coal miners and their families in 1946.”

The bill would take money from a federal fund to clean up abandoned mine sites and transfer it to a fund that helps pay for the pensions and health care benefits of retired miners and their families. That fund has taken a hit with the decline in the coal industry.

Without additional funding, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said 16,000 retired miners would lose their benefits by the end of the year and another 7,000 by July.

“We know this is the first step, but it’s a very significant first step to get it out of committee in a bi-partisan way,” Capito said during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. She added the bill had passed out of the committee with more votes than anticipated.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has not said whether he’ll bring the bill to a vote in the full chamber, but Capito believes it will be taken up by the end of the year.

In a written statement Wednesday, United Miner Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts said:

“It has been a long fight to gain a congressional committee’s approval of this critical legislation…Now that this important first step has been achieved, it is vital that Congress move as quickly as possible to finally pass this legislation that will mean so much to the lives of thousands of senior citizens across America. There is no more time to waste.”