[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 63 (Thursday, May 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            SUPPORT THE BLACK-LUNG BENEFITS RESTORATION ACT

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, today the House has a chance to correct the 
long delays and the procedural barriers that have plagued black-lung 
recipients for many years.
  This is the situation: Imagine it, work a mile underground for 30 or 
40 years mining coal and eating coal dust, cough black dust every time 
you cough, then apply for the benefits that help you pay for your 
oxygen and medical expenses; oh, oops, you have to wait 4 to 7 years. 
Then you have to run through numerous medical exams, a lot of 
procedural hoops.
  A lawyer will not take your case, because they know they will not be 
paid, and chances are you will be dead before the benefits are ever 
received.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill before the House today begins correcting these 
inequities.
  Opponents cannot require more than one medical exam of a claimant. 
Reasonable attorney's fees for a claimant must be paid. Death is 
presumed to be from pneumoconiosis if the claimant was receiving black-
lung benefits or was disabled by black lung at the time of death.
  Mining coal and eating coal dust to mine this Nation's energy is 
tough enough, Mr. Speaker. Today disabled coal miners and their 
families finally have a chance to get a little justice.

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