[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 10, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3834-S3835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself, Mr. Robb, and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 2538. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
maintain retiree health benefits under the Coal Industry Retiree Health 
Benefit Act of 1992; to the Committee on Finance.


          coal miner and widows health protection act of 2000

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation 
that will maintain the promised health benefits of a small group of 
retired coalminers and their widows--the

[[Page S3835]]

Coalminers and Widows Health Protection Act of 2000. Retired coalminers 
and their widows were promised lifetime health benefits by the 
companies they worked for and by the federal government more than a 
half century ago. This commitment goes back to 1946 when President 
Truman guaranteed miners they would have lifetime health benefits in 
exchange for their return to the mines. The promise was well understood 
in the coalfields, and reiterated in successive coal wage agreements 
throughout the last half century. Congress affirmed that promise when 
it enacted the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefits Act in 1992 (as 
part of the Energy Policy Act) to protect the health benefits of about 
120,000 retirees and avoid a nationwide coal strike. The Coal Act has 
ensured that a small group of retirees would continue to get the health 
benefits that they earned and were promised for eight years now. There 
are now only about 65,000 miners and retirees remaining in the Fund--
70% of whom are elderly widows of retired miners. Their average age is 
78 years old, and more than 45% of the population is over 80 years old.
  Once again, in this new century, the health care of this small group 
of retired miners and widows is threatened due to both significantly 
increased health care costs and a series of adverse court decisions. 
Congress must act this year to prevent a reduction in their health care 
benefits. Last year, we faced the first shortfall in the trust fund 
that pays for retired miners health benefits, and Congress responded. 
Senator Byrd and Congressman Rahall's leadership forestalled a health 
care benefit cut. They included a stop-gap $68 million in last year's 
final omnibus Appropriations bill to avert a cut. If Congress fails to 
act this year, retired miners and their widows will be in imminent 
danger of losing health benefits as early as next Spring.
  I am glad to report to my colleagues that the Clinton/Gore 
Administration recognized the need to shore up the retired miners' 
health fund and included in its budget a number of provisions that 
together secure miners' benefits well into the next decade. The Coal 
Act related provisions in the President's budget are based on one 
premise--these retired miners were promised lifetime health benefits 
and a promise made must be a promise kept. The Administration strongly 
reaffirmed the federal government's commitment to retired miners and 
their widows by proposing to transfer $346 million in new monies over 
the next ten years to the Combined Benefit Fund to ensure there will be 
no benefit cuts. The Administration's budget also clarified a few 
provisions of the Coal Act to avoid unnecessary litigation about the 
clear meaning of the statute. The Coalminers and Widows Health 
Protection Act does not include all of the Administration's proposed 
solutions for jurisdictional and practical reasons, but I am very 
grateful for their comprehensive solution to maintaining promised 
benefits, and believe each of their proposed remedies deserve serious 
consideration by Congress.
  The Coalminers and Widows Health Protection Act does three things. It 
provides for an annual mandatory transfer of general funds to the 
Combined Benefit Fund to maintain its long term solvency and prevent a 
reduction in miners' health benefits. The annual transfers are set at a 
level to avoid any reduction in benefits and amount to $346 million 
over ten years. This bill also clarifies two aspects of the Coal Act to 
resolve disputed or misunderstood provisions of the law. The first 
clarification involves the timing of Social Security Administration's 
assignment of retired miners to the companies that had employed them 
and promised to finance their lifetime health benefits. The second 
clarification involves assignments to successors-in-interest of coal 
companies that had agreed to finance lifetime health benefits, as well 
as to the successors-in-interest of persons related to those companies, 
which is explicitly provided for in the Act. These clarifications will 
avoid further unneeded litigation expenses. These two clarifications do 
not score for the purposes of determining the cost of enacting them to 
the federal government.
  I want to report to my colleagues that there is a bipartisan, 
bicameral process underway to determine how we can best shore up the 
miners' trust fund. Staff are meeting regularly. Chairman Roth has 
informed me that he is committed to finding a way to preserve these 
promised benefits, and I welcome his strong support, as well as that of 
Senator Moynihan and several other Members of the Finance Committee who 
are actively involved in this process.
  One hundred thousand coalminers were killed while working in the 
mines last century. Nearly another hundred thousand suffered 
debilitating job related illnesses. This bill will give retired miners 
and their widows the health security they were promised and deserve. We 
owe them that security. They earned it. And you can rest assured that 
as Congress deals with the priority issues of funding government 
functions and operations through the annual budget process, and as 
proposed tax cuts and other legislative items are contemplated, I 
intend to see to it that we meet our responsibilities to retired 
coalminers.
  There are about 20,000 thousand retired miners and their widows 
living in West Virginia--and tens of thousands of more living in 
virtually every state of the Union. The Coalminers and Widows Health 
Protection Act will tell them that they can count on their health care 
benefits being there for them when they need them, just as they were 
promised.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2538

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Coal Miner and Widows Health 
     Protection Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. MANDATORY TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO COMBINED BENEFIT FUND.

       (a) Section 9705 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
     (relating to transfers to the Combined Benefit Fund) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(c) Mandatory Transfers From General Fund.--
       ``(1) In general.--There are hereby authorized and 
     appropriated, out of any amounts in the Treasury not 
     otherwise appropriated, to the Combined Fund the following 
     amounts for the following fiscal years:
       ``(A) $38,000,000 for fiscal year 2001,
       ``(B) $37,000,000 for fiscal year 2002,
       ``(C) $36,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2003 and 2004,
       ``(D) $34,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 and 2006,
       ``(E) $33,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 
     2009, and
       ``(F) $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
       ``(2) Use of funds.--Any amounts transferred to the 
     Combined Fund under paragraph (1) shall be available, without 
     fiscal year limitation, to pay benefits under this 
     subchapter.
       ``(3) Transfer.--The Secretary shall transfer amounts 
     appropriated under paragraph (1) on October 1 of each fiscal 
     year.''

     SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY TO ASSIGN ELIGIBLE 
                   BENEFICIARIES.

       (a) In General.--Section 9706(a) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 (relating to assignment of eligible 
     beneficiaries) is amended by striking ``, before October 1, 
     1993,''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall take effect as if included in the amendments made by 
     section 19143 of the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act 
     of 1992 (Public Law 102-486; 106 Stat. 3037), and no 
     assignment made under section 9706(a) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 shall be invalidated because it was not made 
     before October 1, 1993.

     SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY TO ASSIGN ELIGIBLE 
                   BENEFICIARIES TO SUCCESSORS OF SIGNATORY 
                   OPERATORS.

       (a) In General.--The last sentence of section 9701(c)(2)(A) 
     of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining related 
     persons) is amended to read as follows: ``A related person 
     shall also include a successor in interest of any person 
     described in clause (i), (ii), (iii), or a successor in 
     interest of the signatory operator itself.''
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall take effect as if included in the amendments made by 
     section 19143 of the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act 
     of 1992 (Public Law 102-486; 106 Stat. 3037), except that 
     such amendment shall not apply to any proceeding initiated 
     before the date of enactment of this Act if the proceeding 
     (and any appeal therefrom) is not pending on such date.
                                 ______