Bipartisan WV delegation pushes for United Mine Workers pension bill

Members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation on Wednesday pushed again for a vote on a bill to rescue the troubled United Mine Workers pension and health care program on the eve of what the union is promoting as a major march in Washington in support of the legislation.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., promoted the bipartisan effort during a morning event at the National Press Club, aimed at drumming up more news coverage of the crisis facing thousands of UMW retirees, widows and other family members.

“We can do this,” Manchin told reporters at the event, which included a phone-in option for coalfield news media. “We can fix it.”

Capito said she has been given “pretty good assurances” that the bill — with 10 Democratic and eight Republican co-sponsors — will be taken up next week by the Senate Finance Committee. Capito said she’s also talked several times about the legislation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who last year blocked a move to attach the UMW pension language to a broader government spending bill.

- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-politics/20160907/bipartisan-wv-delegation-pushes-for-umw-pension-bill

Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.