VA Members Urge Congressional Leadership to Take Action to Protect Miners Before Healthcare Benefits Expire
An estimated 10,000 retired coal miners in Virginia are at risk of losing health and retirement benefits in the coming years
WASHINGTON, DC – In a letter today, Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, and Reps. Bobby Scott, Gerry Connolly, and A. Donald McEachin (all D-VA) urged Congressional leaders to take action to protect retired coal miners who risk losing their healthcare benefits as part of negotiations to keep the government funded before the end of the week. Last year, Congress reached a deal to extend government funding and retired miners’ health care benefits until April 28th. In March, retired coal miners and their families began receiving letters notifying them of the impending termination of their health care coverage.
“This nation was built on the backs of our workers. Let us not forsake them. We implore you to immediately pass a permanent health care fix for the miners and commit to working with us to finding and passing a solution for the imperiled 1974 Pension Fund,” the members wrote.
Retired miners are facing uncertainty because the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) 1974 Pension Plan is severely underfunded, still reeling from the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and a series of bankruptcies in the coal industry.
The Virginia Congressional members pressed for the inclusion in negotiations of the Miners Protection Act, bipartisan legislation which would transfer federal funds to shore up the underfunded health insurance and pension plan.
“Anything less is merely an extension of the ongoing uncertainty and agony that these men and women have been carrying for years. Anything less is an unacceptable and tragic failure of this body to keep its word to the men and women who powered our nation to prosperity at the risk of their own health and lives,” the members added.
Full text of the letter can be found here and below.
April 25, 2017
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Senate Majority Leader
The Capitol S-230
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Chuck Schumer
Senate Minority Leader
The Capitol S-221
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House of Representatives
The Capitol H-232
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader
The Capitol H-204
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Leader Pelosi,
As you know, at the expiration of the current continuing resolution, 22,600 of our nation’s retired coal miners will lose their healthcare benefits. In March, these miners received letters notifying them of this impending termination and, sadly, it is not the first such letter they have received.
Virginia is home to nearly 10,000 UMWA beneficiaries whose benefits are at risk in the coming years, many of whom will soon suffer the anguish and fear that comes with the loss of these life-saving benefits.
While the continuing resolution included a four-month extension of benefits, it did so using remaining funds in the existing Voluntary Employee’s Beneficiary Association (VEBA) plans. The “extension” was essentially a transfer of funds already belonging to these miners. In fact, it shortened the timeline for 6,500 of these miners who would have otherwise received healthcare benefits through July. Additionally, the pension fund that these miners and their widows rely on for life’s basic necessities will reach the point of no return this year if Congress does not act to shore it up.
This bill is simple – it is the continuation of a longstanding commitment by our government to lifetime health and retirement benefits for our miners. The Krug-Lewis Agreement was signed in 1946 at the White House in front of President Truman by UMWA president John L. Lewis and Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug. While the agreement itself was not drafted in perpetuity, Congress essentially codified the promises made in that agreement by subsequently passing the Coal Act.
The Coal Act and its 2006 amendments re-committed the government to the health and retirement security of our nation’s miners and their families. In fact, prior to passage of the 1992 Coal Act, the Dole Commission (appointed by President George H.W. Bush) issued a report stating that, “The UMWA Health and Retirement Funds is as much a creature of government as it is of collective bargaining. There is a line running from the original Boone Report to the present system. In a way, the original Krug-Lewis agreement predisposed, if not predetermined, the system that evolved.”
The Miners Protection Act is a responsible, bipartisan solution to an immediate problem that is fully offset and has gone through regular order. As Congress considers a continuing resolution to keep the government running, we fully expect that such a vehicle will include the permanent health care fix for our nation’s retired miners as promised at the end of 2016 and proposed in the Miner’s Protection Act.
Anything less is merely an extension of the ongoing uncertainty and agony that these men and women have been carrying for years. Anything less is an unacceptable and tragic failure of this body to keep its word to the men and women who powered our nation to prosperity at the risk of their own health and lives.
This nation was built on the backs of our workers. Let us not forsake them. We implore you to immediately pass a permanent health care fix for the miners and commit to working with us to finding and passing a solution for the imperiled 1974 Pension Fund.
Sincerely,
Mark R. Warner
United States Senator
Tim Kaine
United States Senator
Robert C. “Bobby” Scott
United States Representative
Gerry Connolly
United States Representative
A. Donald McEachin
United States Representative
Press Contact
Kiara Pesante (Scott), 202-226-0853
Rachel Cohen (Warner), 202-228-6884
Sarah Peck (Kaine), 202-228-1174
Jamie Smith (Connolly), 202-225-1492
Jamitress Bowden (McEachin), 202-306-0546
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