releases: https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-calls-for-passage-of-miners-protection-act-before-end-of-year
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-calls-for-passage-of-miners-protection-act-before-end-of-year | Donnelly Calls for Passage of Miners Protection Act Before End of Year | 2016-11-22 | 2016 | 2016-11 | Democrat | House | IN | Joe Donnelly | D000607 | www.donnelly.senate.gov | legacy | Donnelly Calls for Passage of Miners Protection Act Before End of Year Senator continues push to ensure retired Hoosier miners receive pension and health care benefits they earned Tuesday, November 22, 2016 Granger, Ind. – U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly and a bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter late yesterday to leaders in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives calling for consideration and passage of the Miners Protection Act before the end of the year. The bipartisan Miners Protection Act, which Donnelly has continuously supported, would protect the health and pension benefits of thousands of American miners, including more than 4,500 retired Hoosier miners. Without action, their benefits are at risk. The letter said, in part, “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 Miners Protection Act is a responsible, bipartisan solution to an immediate problem… We strongly encourage you to pass the Miners Protection Act of 2016 (S. 1714) by the end of this year.” To read the full letter, click here, or see below. November 21, 2016 The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker U.S. House of Representatives The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate The Honorable Harry Reid Democratic Leader United States Senate The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Democratic Leader U.S. House of Representatives Dear Senator McConnell, Senator Reid, Speaker Ryan and Representative Pelosi: During the month of October, approximately 12,500 of our nation’s retired coal miners received notices informing them that their healthcare benefits will be terminated at the end of this year. The funding provided for Patriot Retirees Voluntary Employee’s Beneficiary Association (Patriot VEBA) will be exhausted by December 31, 2016, leaving these miners and their families without the essential healthcare benefits they earned through a lifetime of hard work. On November 1st, another 3,600 miners began to receive notices. And next year, 6,500 more will suffer the same fate. Additionally, the pension fund that these miners and their widows rely on for life’s basic necessities will reach the point of no return shortly thereafter. Therefore, we ask that you pass the Miners Protection Act of 2016 (S. 1714) by the end of this year. In March of this year, the Miners Protection Act was the subject of a legislative hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance. On September 21st, S. 1714 was approved by the Committee with a strong bipartisan vote of 18 to 8. We worked closely with our colleagues to ensure that the bill was fully offset and that no funding was diverted away from either abandoned mine reclamation efforts or annual payments to certified states. 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 Krug-Lewis Agreement was signed in 1946 at the White House in front of President Truman by UMWA president John L. Lewis and Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug. This agreement ended a government seizure of the nation’s coal industry after a widespread strike by coal miners. While the agreement itself was not drafted in perpetuity, Congress essentially codified the promises made in that agreement by subsequently passing the Coal Act. The Coal Act and its 2006 amendments re-committed the government to the health and retirement security of our nation’s miners and their families. In fact, prior to passage of the 1992 Coal Act, the Dole Commission (appointed by President George H.W. Bush) issued a report stating that, “The UMWA Health and Retirement Funds is as much a creature of government as it is of collective bargaining. There is a line running from the original Boone Report to the present system. In a way, the original Krug-Lewis agreement predisposed, if not predetermined, the system that evolved.” The Miners Protection Act is a responsible, bipartisan solution to an immediate problem that is fully offset and has gone through regular order. We strongly encourage you to pass the Miners Protection Act of 2016 (S. 1714) by the end of this year. Sincerely U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) U.S. Senator Joe Manchin III (D-WV) U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-PA) U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) U.S. Senator James E. Risch (R-ID) U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |