16,000 retired miners face losing benefits

A bill aimed at keeping the federal government running faces the very real prospect of stalling over a fight over retired coal miners.

The United Mine Workers of America have been engaged in a months-long fight to save retirees’ health care and pensions, both insolvent because of bankruptcies in the coal industry. Unless Congress acts, more than 16,000 retired miners will lose their health benefits at the end of this year.

The last chance of passing it appears to be by attaching it to a bill that would also keep the government open for four months. But while the House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill included a patch that would keep miners’ health care intact for four months, retired miners are enraged with how they’ve decided to do that.

Specifically, they’re angry that Congress intends to pay for it using money placed in trust by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for retirees from two coal companies and using it to pay for two other groups of retirees. The retired miners say that the result will be that instead of 16,300 miners losing their healthcare Dec. 31, 22,500 miners will now lose it in April.

The Mine Workers have threatened a court challenge if this goes through. The bill did not include a measure preserving their pensions.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who Brown blames for not allowing a vote on a larger bill fixing miners’ pensions and health care, defended the solution earlier this week, saying “while I recognize that this solution will not solve the challenges of every coal miner or retiree in Kentucky, this provision will help address many of the health care needs of thousands of miners who fell victim to the steep downturn in coal production.” He blamed the pension issues on “the Obama Administration’s war on coal combined with challenges within the energy market.”

In a Senate cafeteria Thursday, retired miner Dave Dilley, 71, of Fresno, Ohio, called the answer a “four month bone.”

“It’s not even a Band-Aid, really,” he said. “It isn’t enough to stop the bleeding.”

Dilley and Fred Curry Jr., a retired miner from Zanesville, were among a group of miners who made the trip to Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to fix their pension and health benefits. Curry said he has benefits because he is also a veteran. But his wife doesn’t – and they pay $621 for her insurance each month.

He’s considering selling his truck and camper to pay to keep her insured. “They’re a luxury,” he said, “but that’s what may go in order to pay for the insurance.”

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, have fought to include miner pension fixes in must-pass bills. But neither Brown or Portman were willing to say Thursday if he was prepared to vote to shut down the government in order to restore miners’ pensions and benefits. But Brown hinted that he’s not willing to let the proposal go through as it stands.

“There is absolutely no reason Congress needs to adjourn on Friday and go on vacation,” Brown said, saying he is “willing to stay here through Christmas if that’s what it takes.”

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