Senate panel approves United Mine Workers pension legislation

Members of a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday morning approved legislation aimed at preserving the health care benefits and pensions for thousands of union coal miners and their families.

The Senate Finance Committee approved by a vote of 18-8 the Miners Protection Act, which is being pushed by the United Mine Workers union and by members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation.

While neither Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., nor Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., serve on the finance panel, both had been pushing for the bill and, in June, secured an agreement from the Senate’s Republican leadership that the measure would get a fair hearing in committee sometime this month.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from coal-producing Kentucky, previously blocked a similar provision from being included in a federal budget bill.

See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-politics/20160921/senate-panel-approves-umw-pension-legislation