January 13, 2020 - A group of Democratic U.S. senators introduced a bill Friday to extend the black lung excise tax through December 2030.

The Black Lung Benefits Disability Trust Fund Solvency Act of 2020 is aimed at ensuring coal miners with black lung disease have access to medical treatment. The fund is at risk of running out of funding.

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West Virginia’s Joe Manchin is one of the bill’s sponsors.

“Every day, our coal miners risk their lives to provide America with the energy we need to be the most powerful nation in the world, and as a result, many of these brave miners have Black Lung Disease. Now, it’s our turn to support them and ensure that they receive the treatment and medical care they need,” he said Friday in a statement.

Alabama’s Doug Jones, Virginia’s Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey helped introduce the measure.