Lawmakers’ hopes to pass a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown could be dashed by Senate supporters of the Miners Protection Act.

The 114^th Congress is expected to come to close this Friday. Before anyone can go home for the holidays, both chambers will have to pass a temporary budget measure that will keep all agencies of the government funded through next April.

But several leading voices in the Senate have said they will hold up passage of the temporary budget measure if the Miners Protection Act of 2016 is not included in the resolution, or allowed a full vote on its own.

A coalition of Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Joseph Manchin, D-W.VA., have threatened to block attempts to pass legislation by unanimous consent in the Senate if the Miners’ Act, which protects the pension and health care benefits of more than 120,000 retirees, is not addressed in this week’s votes.

Funding shortfalls in the United Mine Workers of America’s pension and health care plans will leave 16,300 retired coal miners without health care by December 31 of this year.

The version of the continuing resolution that has emerged from the House of Representatives includes a provision of $45 million, which would extend the health care benefits of coal miners through next April.

But that may not be good enough to assuage Manchin and other prominent Senators calling for full inclusion of the Miners Protection Act.

“I am forced to come to this floor and object to some good pieces of legislation,” said Sen. Manchin in the Senate chamber this week. “I want my colleagues to know that I am not objecting to the content or to my friends. I am objecting on behalf of the miners and their families who need their pension and health care benefits they have earned.”

In September, the Miners Protection Act passed out of the Senate Finance Committee by a bipartisan vote of 18 to eight.

The bill addresses the UMWA 1974 pension fund, which is expected to be insolvent by 2025. Assets from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, which is run by the U.S. Department of the Interior, would be shifted to the pension and health care funds to assure solvency. Also, an extension and increase of a custom tax would raise $3.1 billion in funds between 2016 and 2027.

The UMWA 1974 pension fund has about $4 billion in assets and more than $9.5 billion in liabilities.

The Miners’ Protection Act was first introduced by Manchin in July of 2015 and has 24 cosponsors across party lines.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the bill would not negatively impact the federal budget.

It would direct about $1.4 billion in new pension funding to the retired coal miners. CBO says it would save the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s multiemployer insurance program about $415 million.

As of press time, it was unclear if Sen. Manchin remained committed to lead the effort to block the continuing resolution, or if he would be satisfied with the temporary funding of coal miners’ health care benefits scheduled to expire at the end of the year. His staff did not return a request for comment from Sen. Manchin.

The rash of bankruptcies, consolidations and layoffs in the beleaguered coal industry has led to a massive decrease in the number of companies participating and contributing to the collectively bargained pension and health care plans.

In 1984, there were more than 2,800 coal companies contributing to the 1974 Pension Fund. Today, most of the contributions come from two non-bankrupt coal companies.

President-elect Trump made continuous overtures to protect the coal industry and its workers during the presidential campaign.

Sen. Manchin has already met with the Trump transition team, and is reportedly meeting again with the President-elect this week.

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Miners Protection Act could hold up budget resolution

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