By Eric Hrin | Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he hopes that Murray Energy’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection drives home the serious nature of the situation to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“I understood, he understands how desperate this is,” Manchin said during a teleconference Wednesday afternoon with reporters about the Murray bankruptcy and how it affects coal miners. Manchin said that before, McConnell could “basically take his good old time because he had been told, the same as all of us, the [UMWA pension fund] insolvency started around 2022.”
“So, he figured he had another Congress to take this up and fool with it. Right now, he doesn’t.” According to Manchin, the Murray announcement means an additional 14,000 miners are at risk of losing their healthcare benefits.
In a news release, Manchin stated the Murray bankruptcy will gut the pensions of 82,000 coal miners and their families. He said that instead of going insolvent in 2022, the UMWA pension fund will go insolvent next year. …