[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 181 (Tuesday, November 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S7061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petition or memorial was laid before the Senate and was 
referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-133. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky urging the 
     United States Congress to pass the Miners Protection Act; to 
     the Committee on Finance.

                        House Resolution No. 136

       Whereas, in 1946, faced with the prospect of a long strike 
     that could hamper post-war economic recovery, President Harry 
     Truman issued an Executive Order directing the Secretary of 
     the Interior to take possession of all bituminous coal mines 
     in the United States and to negotiate with the United Mine 
     Workers of America ``appropriate changes in the terms and 
     conditions of employment''; and
       Whereas, after a week of negotiations, the historic Krug-
     Lewis agreement was announced and signed in the White House 
     with President Truman as a witness; and
       Whereas, the agreement created a welfare and retirement 
     fund that guaranteed lifetime payments to miners and their 
     dependents and survivors in cases of sickness, permanent 
     disability, death or retirement; and
       Whereas, the agreement also created a separate medical and 
     hospital fund; and
       Whereas, in 1947, the government returned control of the 
     mines back to their owners and a new collective bargaining 
     agreement was reached with the companies that guaranteed 
     retirement benefits to miners and their dependents and 
     survivors for life; and
       Whereas, for the next 70 years, miners bargained for money 
     to be dedicated to their health care in retirement, because 
     they knew when they retired they would be sicker than the 
     average senior citizen, with more nagging injuries and a 
     greater risk of black lung or some other cardio-pulmonary 
     disease; and
       Whereas, the federal government has repeatedly confirmed 
     its role in guaranteeing retirement benefits for coal miners; 
     and
       Whereas, in 1992 Congress passed and President George H.W. 
     Bush signed into law the Coal Act, which established an 
     industry-funded mechanism for paying for the health care of 
     retirees whose companies had gone out of business; and
       Whereas, in 2006, Congress and President George W. Bush 
     amended the Coal Act to expand the financial resources 
     available to the fund; and
       Whereas, a depression reigns in America's coalfields today, 
     with tens of thousands of jobs eliminated; and
       Whereas, multiple companies have filed for bankruptcy and 
     received approval from bankruptcy courts to shed their 
     retiree obligations, leaving more than 26,000 retirees 
     confronting the loss of their health care benefits; and
       Whereas, like many other multiemployer pension funds, the 
     United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Fund lost a 
     significant portion of its value in the recession of 2008 
     through 2009, and, due to the devastation of the coal 
     industry, will not receive enough contributions from the 
     employers to make up the shortfall, leading the fund to 
     likely become insolvent by 2022; and
       Whereas, on December 9, 2016, Congress passed a Continuing 
     Resolution to continue funding for federal programs and 
     services until April 28, 2017, including a provision 
     providing $45 million for continued health care benefits for 
     these retirees and their families until April 30, 2017; and
       Whereas, Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito of 
     West Virginia have introduced legislation co-sponsored by 
     Republicans and Democrats, the Miners Protection Act, that 
     would amend the Coal Act to allow retirees from recently 
     bankrupt companies to get health care coverage from the 
     United Mine Workers of America Health and Retirement Funds 
     and would repurpose the balance of an existing appropriation 
     to provide funding to shore up the pension plan; and
       Whereas, Representative David McKinley of West Virginia has 
     also introduced the Miners Protection Act in the House of 
     Representatives, and it is also co-sponsored by both 
     Republicans and Democrats; and
       Whereas, America's coal miners have sacrificed much for our 
     nation, with more than 105,000 killed on the job in the last 
     century and more than 100,000 having died from coal workers' 
     pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung; and
       Whereas, knowing those risks, miners have continued to go 
     to work every day to provide for their families, build secure 
     futures for themselves, and produce the fuel that has allowed 
     America to become the most powerful nation on earth; and
       Whereas, America has an obligation to our retired coal 
     miners for the sacrifices they have made for our nation: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives of the General 
     Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
       Section 1. The Kentucky House of Representatives urges the 
     United States Congress to pass the Miners Protection Act as 
     soon as possible and provide the full measure of benefits 
     these retirees were promised and have earned.
       Section 2. The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall 
     send a copy of this Resolution and notification of its 
     adoption to the President and Vice President of the United 
     States, the Speaker of the United States House of 
     Representatives, the Minority Leader of the United States 
     House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United 
     States Senate, the Minority Leader of the United States 
     Senate, and each member of Kentucky's delegation to the 
     United States Congress.

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