Who I’m Fighting For

Here’s the question Americans should always be asking every member of Congress: who are you fighting for?

 

Here’s who I’m fighting for: Billy Hull.

 

Billy Hull is a retired coal miner with nearly 30 years working at the Peabody Coal Power Mine near Montrose, Missouri. Mr. Hull wrote me a letter earlier this year, saying in part: “My Wife and I, married 59 years fall under the Patriot Coal Companies Voluntary Employees Beneficial Association (VEBA). My wife Earlene is a 2 time cancer survivor and I suffered a stroke in 2012. If we lose our benefits it will be hard for us to afford our medicine cost. Due to the bankruptcy of both Peabody Coal Co. and the Patriot Coal Company the Patriot VEBA fund will be exhausted in late 2016 leaving us without pension and healthcare benefits…”

 

Mr. Hull isn’t alone. He’s one of thousands of retired coal miners and their widows whose pensions and healthcare—promised to them decades ago—are now in jeopardy.

 

My friend, Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has spent two years pushing for a fix—his bipartisan Miners Protection Act, which I strongly support. But Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate refuse to act on the legislation.

 

Rather than fix the problem before they went home, several weeks before Christmas, elected Republican leadership kicked the can down the road with a four-month extension, and said that miners were lucky to get that.

 

Well, that wasn’t good enough for me, which is why I voted against the spending bill. Kicking the can doesn’t fix this crisis. It only increases the uncertainty while ensuring Billy Hull and thousands like him will start receiving cancellation notices in a matter of months.

 

I don’t know who these U.S. House Republicans are fighting for, but it’s not working Americans. And I’ve got a message for them—we’ve got to get this right for these miners and their families. Because Billy Hull and thousands of Americans like him whose blood, sweat, and tears powered our nation for generations don’t have the peace of mind that those members of the Congress are blessed with.

 

Missouri’s own Harry Truman—whose Senate seat I hold today—made a promise to these coal miners when he was President, that their government would always honor their pensions and health benefits. I’m fighting to keep his promise. And I think I’ll have some big help in President-elect Donald Trump, who’s repeatedly promised to stand with America’s coal workers.

 

This debate reminds me of a fight in Congress exactly two years ago. Back then, Congress approved a sprawling, $1 trillion spending package—and tucked into that “omnibus” bill was a provision allowing for deep cuts to retiree benefits for 32,000 Missourians participating in the Central States Pension Plan. I opposed that legislation, and I was the only member of Missouri’s Congressional delegation to vote against it. Now I’m backing legislation to undo that law.

 

Then and now, I’m fighting for Missouri’s working families.

 

As my friend Senator Manchin said on the Senate floor—if we don’t stand for something, then we don’t stand for anything.

 

I’m standing for Billy Hull. And I’m going to keep fighting.