Following McCaskill Pressure, Miners Health Benefits Included in Bipartisan Bill to Keep Government Open
Senator: ‘Thousands of coal miners in our states played by the rules… the promise made to them deserves to be kept’ McCaskill also urges action for Missouri truck drivers
WASHINGTON – Following months of pressure from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and a group of colleagues, a permanent fix for the health benefits of more than 20,000 miners is now included in legislation to keep the government open.
McCaskill, citing a letter she received from Billy Hull, a retired coal miner with nearly 30 years working at the Peabody Coal Power Mine near Montrose, Missouri, said in a speech on the Senate floor today: “These folks were made a promise by… [President] Harry Truman…I think he kept people like Billy Hull at the front of his mind 24-7. Good salt-of-the-earth hardworking people who play by the rules. Mr. Hull played by the rules, thousands of coal miners in our states played by the rules. And their widows played by the rules. And the promise made by Harry Truman deserved to be kept. The promise deserved to be kept.”
Mr. Hull had written to McCaskill last year, saying in part: “My wife Earlene is a 2 time cancer survivor and I suffered a stroke in 2012. If we lose our benefits it will be hard for us to afford our medicine cost. Due to the bankruptcy of both Peabody Coal Co. and the Patriot Coal Company the Patriot VEBA fund will be exhausted in late 2016 leaving us without pension and healthcare benefits…”
McCaskill continued in her speech today: “And now we’ve got another big task, because there’s another big bunch of people out there, that we’re running roughshod over, and that’s a bunch of truck drivers. Truck drivers in my state that have driven trucks 35, 40, 45 years, understanding at the end of that long period of time they would have a pension. It’s not their fault that the pension is not there for them. If we can bail out everyone we’re bailing out, if we can cut taxes by $7 trillion dollars, then surely we can find the money to make good on these promises.”
The government funding legislation includes a permanent fix for more than 20,000 miners’ health benefits. McCaskill and a bipartisan group of Senators have continually urged Congressional leaders to advance the bipartisan Miners Protection Act, to protect miners and their families from losing their lifetime pension and health benefits set to expire last month. In December, Congress passed a four-month stop-gap measure to fund healthcare and benefits for retired American coal miners and their families, and at the time McCaskill blasted Republican leadership for failing to provide these miners with barely another month of coverage before they would receive a 90-day notice of cancellation. She has continued to push for certainty for these retirees and their families with a permanent solutions, so they won’t face the loss of their insurance every few months.
Earlier this year, McCaskill obtained a commitment from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that he will meet with Missouri truckers, as well as other Missouri workers and retirees who are facing the threat of deep cuts to their retirement benefits because of the instability of the Central States Pension Fund. And she recently hosted a listening session with retirees affected by the failing Central States Pension Plan to discuss the importance of guaranteeing pension benefits for retired workers.
The bipartisan bill to keep the government open also includes additional funding for Super Hornets, increases cancer and infectious disease research dollars for the National Institutes of Health, provides new resources to address the opioid crises, ensures year-round funding for Pell Grants, continues the TIGER grant program, and provides assistance for rural hospital, among other Missouri benefits.
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