A bipartisan group of 22 senators pressed both House and Senate leaders on Tuesday to pass a bill to protect coal miners’ pensions by the end of the year.
“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 senators said in a letter sent to both chambers’ leaders.
The government-backed pension fund has been approaching insolvency for years due to the 2008 recession and the more recent downturn in the coal sector, which has led a number of coal firms to declare bankruptcy in the last year.
The bill, Miners Protection Act, would take money from a mine clean-up program and use it to shore up the pensions, which are currently underfunded.
“The Miners Protection Act is a responsible, bipartisan solution to an immediate problem that is fully offset and has gone through regular order,” the senators wrote.
The bill could also help a Trump administration meet its pledge to help the ailing coal industry, depending on when it is passed. But the president-elect has made no specific mention of the pension crisis.
If the bill isn’t passed by the end of the year, the retired coal workers would become at risk of losing their healthcare benefits.
