Published: October 7, 2016 |

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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Legislation to shore up pension and health care funds for union coal miners, an issue that affects thousands in Kentucky, could hit the Senate floor during a brief post-election congressional session, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday.

The Miners Protection Act passed a Senate committee earlier this month with support from Republicans and Democrats who say benefits promised to miners long ago will be cut by the end of the year unless Congress acts.

McConnell, R-Ky., who has not declared his position on the proposal, said the bill may make it onto the limited agenda Congress will tackle during the three weeks lawmakers will work after the November elections.

“We’ll take a look. We’ve got a lot of stuff that could be dealt with but that is certainly one of them,” McConnell said.

The proposal would redirect excess money from an abandoned mine land restoration program to replenish the health and pension funds that support about 120,000 miners and their families nationally.

Source: (September 29, 2016) Courier-Journal

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