November 14, 2024 - Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su demanding information about the administration’s management of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (Trust Fund), which provides benefits to coal miners who have been disabled due to black lung disease.

While the Trust Fund has had financial difficulties since it was established in 1978, the Biden-Harris administration’s war on coal, including burying job creators in red tape, has compounded the financial health of the program. 
 
In the letter, Foxx writes: “The Committee on Education and the Workforce (Committee) is conducting oversight on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) and its administration of the [Trust Fund]. The Committee is concerned that growing administrative costs and longstanding, unaddressed debt and interest payments will compromise future benefits. Instead of addressing these critical issues, the Biden-Harris administration has been largely focused on pushing the coal industry into extinction to the detriment of the workers and the economies that rely on this important industry. Oversight on how the administration is responding to these financial challenges will help the Committee determine what legislative steps may be necessary to address this situation on behalf of black lung beneficiaries.”

The letter continues: “The Trust Fund has been in debt since its inception. Unfortunately, the Biden-Harris administration has failed to address the real problems plaguing the Trust Fund. While the Trump administration took concrete steps to correct these issues, within weeks of taking office, the Biden-Harris administration reversed course by withdrawing these important reforms. Since then, OWCP has improperly pinned responsibility for the Trust Fund’s financial woes on the coal mining industry as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s continuous war on coal. It is clear that woke politics is more important to this administration than the livelihoods of all the hardworking American families touched by the coal industry.”

The letter concludes by asking DOL to provide the following information to help the Committee determine the financial health of the Trust Fund and to make legislative changes, if necessary:

1. For Fiscal Years (FY) 2022 and 2023, provide the number of black lung beneficiaries who received benefits from the Trust Fund and, separately, the number of black lung beneficiaries who received benefits from responsible mine operators.

2. For FY 2022 and FY 2023, provide the percentage of black lung beneficiaries who received benefits from the Trust Fund and, separately, the percentage who received benefits from responsible mine operators.

3. Provide the total increase and percentage increase in the Trust Fund’s administrative costs per claim for black lung beneficiaries for each year from FY 1982 to FY 2023.

4. Describe the main factors driving the increase in the Trust Fund’s administrative costs since 1982.

5. For FY 2022 and FY 2023, provide the percentage of Trust Fund liabilities that were payments to beneficiaries and separately the percentage of liabilities that were debt and interest payments to the Treasury. 

To read the full letter, click here.