‘I’ve spoken with the Speaker on a number of occasions about an issue facing coal miner retirees like those I represent in Kentucky. I have insisted that the CR include a provision to address that issue so these retirees don’t lose their health care benefits at the end of the year’

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today issued a statement about his efforts to protect the health care benefits of coal miner retirees. Senator McConnell has been personally speaking with Speaker Paul Ryan about the need for the benefits to be included in the Continuing Resolution (CR), which funds the government through early next year. The provision would provide continued health care benefits, through the length of the CR, to thousands of UMWA coal miner retirees, including approximately 3,000 Kentuckians, whose health care benefits are set to expire at the end of the year.

“I’ve spoken with the Speaker on a number of occasions about an issue facing coal miner retirees like those I represent in Kentucky. I have insisted that the CR include a provision to address that issue so these retirees don’t lose their health care benefits at the end of the year.” Senator McConnell said. “I’ve been touched by the stories of the retired mineworkers I’ve met with, and am working hard to ensure they keep the health care benefits they’ve long relied on. Congress has stepped in to protect health care for coal miner retirees in the past, and it’s time to do it again. The Obama Administration’s war on coal combined with challenges within the energy market have led to a dramatic increase in bankruptcies and lost coal jobs, exhausting the health benefits of thousands of coal workers and retirees. Our hope is that Congress will soon be able to provide needed relief to those who have felt the devastation in coal country firsthand by working with the new administration to provide regulatory relief and to level the playing field in the energy markets. I am deeply grateful for the lifetime of hard work coal miners have provided, and while I recognize that this solution will not solve the challenges of every coal miner or retiree in Kentucky, this provision will help address many of the health care needs of thousands of miners who fell victim to the steep downturn in coal production.”

The CR is expected to be considered by the House of Representatives and Senate later this week.

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