Miners’ benefits included in spending deal

A bipartisan agreement to maintain retired miners’ pension and health benefits has been added to a year-end federal budget bill, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Mark Warner.

In a Dec. 16 email, Warner announced that the compromise measure has been included in the spending package.

Last month, Warner, D-Va., and Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., introduced the Bipartisan American Miners Act. The bill would ensure continued funding of the 1974 United Mine Workers pension plan, which is in danger of becoming insolvent because of coal company bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis. Also, the legislation would ensure that at-risk mine retirees do not lose health benefits because of company bankruptcies.

The compromise measure protects pensions for 92,000 retirees and health benefits for 13,000 miners, including several hundred Westmoreland Coal Co. retirees in Southwest Virginia who would otherwise lose them at the end of this month.

“This is huge for mine workers in Virginia and across the country,” Warner said.