MORGANTOWN — Sen. Joe Manchin came through on Wednesday on his promise to halt all Senate action until senators agree to save miners’ pensions and healthcare.
Manchin, D-W.Va., wants the Senate to include his Bipartisan American Miners Act in one of the 12 spending bills Congress must pass by Dec. 20.
“We need to fix this now, not in 2020 but now,” he said in a floor speech. No other legislation will pass until the Senate approves the fix.
The bill is cosponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Manchin said on the Senate floor that more than 13,000 miners will lose their healthcare and 82,000 will lose their pensions without immediate action.
The Bipartisan American Miners Act would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to require the Treasury Department to transfer additional funds to the UMWA pension plan from excess Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund money. It also will amend the Coal Act to include the 2018 and 2019 bankruptcies in the miners’ healthcare fix that passed in 2017.
Manchin told The Dominion Post last week that he planned to use this procedure to assure passage of the act. He’s doing that by refusing to grant unanimous consent to move legislation along.
“That’s why I’m putting a hold on all legislative business that comes through the Senate until we get assurances,” he said Wednesday on the Senate floor.
The Senate explains: “A senator may request unanimous consent on the floor to set aside a specified rule of procedure so as to expedite proceedings. If no Senator objects, the Senate permits the action, but if any one senator objects, the request is rejected.”
Mancin said on the floor, “This is not who I am. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t do this.” But most of the affected pensioners are widows receiving less than $600 per month.
The bill has bipartisan support, he said, and he knows President Trump will sign it.
“Can you imagine being one of the coal miners trying to enjoy your holidays this year knowing you might wake up Jan. 1 with no healthcare coverage and a reduction in your pension,” he said on the floor. They deserve the peace of mind that they will receive what the pension they paid into and earned.
“We might be here through Christmas; we might be here through New Years,” he said. “Us going home and them not being able to enjoy [the holiday] is not who we are and it’s not the American dream and it’s not who we are as Americans.”
Asked what’s happening in the Senate since his announcement, Manchin’s office said, “Right now we’re trying to get something in the end-of-year spending bill the House and Senate leaders are negotiating right now, which should be finalized within the next couple of days.”
Senate staff explained in more detail how objecting to unanimous consent might work.
They did unanimously pass a veterans’’ suicide bill on Wednesday, and three nominations up for action set for Thursday will proceed as planned.
The objection can stall bills in the hotline channel. Hotline bills are noncontroversial bills that bypass usual procedures and get passed in an expedited manner.
Votes on bigger ticket bills, such as the National Defense Authorization Act just passed by the House, can be scheduled by unanimous consent. But if a senator objects, that can lead to cloture, where 60 votes set up a 30-hour limit on bill consideration. If cloture is filed, objection can delay a vote on a bill by several days but not stop it.
Manchin’s chief leverage, staff said, is that the current Continuing Resolution funding government expires on Dec. 20 and Congress needs to either pass another CR or a spending package.
Staff said that both Manchin and Capito want to see the Bipartisan American Miners Act enacted and they’re working hard to get it done.
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
