Warner, Kaine push for inclusion of miners’ priorities in end-of-year legislation

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) are urging congressional leadership to include in end-of-year legislation an extension of the coal excise tax at current levels for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, the addition of orphan miners from 2018 bankruptcies into the Coal Act, and a permanent fix to ensure the solvency of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) 1974 Pension Plan. “Our nation’s coal miners made a commitment to provide our nation with the energy we needed to power our nation to prosperity and they risked their health and lives to do so.  Now is not the time to pull back on funding or abandon our miners in their hour of need.  It is time for us to keep our full promise to them and ensure their benefits are not lost,” the Senators wrote in a letter to Senate and House leaders. In addition to Sens. Warner and Kaine, the letter was signed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bob Casey (D-PA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and U.S. Reps. Matt Cartwright, Conor Lamb, Mike Doyle, Marcia Fudge, Wm. Lacy Clay, Bennie Thompson and Brenda Lawrence.