Manchin, Warner, Casey, Brown Take to the Senate Floor to fight for Retired Miners and Their Families
Without Action, 16,300 Coal Miners Will Lose Healthcare on Dec. 31
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Warner (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) spoke on the Senate floor on the urgent need to pass the Miners Protection Act, which will protect the health and pensions of more than 120,000 retired coalminers nationwide. With 16,300 retired coal miners set to lose healthcare by Dec. 31, 2016 without Congressional action, the Senators announced that they will continue to block all attempts to pass legislation by unanimous consent in the Senate until the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) healthcare and pension shortfall is adequately addressed to give miners long-term certainty and the benefits they earned over a lifetime of hard work.
“We are coming up on a deadline, a deadline we knew almost 2 years ago we would hit. Because we have been unable to secure a vote, that would keep our promise to the miners and their families who have given so much to this country, I am forced to come to this floor and object to some good pieces of legislation. I want my colleagues to know that I am not objecting to the content or to my friends. I am objecting on behalf of the miners and their families who need their pension and healthcare benefits they have earned.”
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