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To urge Congress to enact the Coal Mine Health Care | 1 |
and Pension Protection Act. | 2 |
WHEREAS, The energy resources of this country have helped to | 3 |
make it one of the greatest powers in history. The United States | 4 |
has an ample supply of oil and natural gas, but its greatest | 5 |
energy resource is coal; and | 6 |
WHEREAS, Coal miners have labored for hundreds of years below | 7 |
the surface of the earth to bring coal out of the ground in order | 8 |
for our country to have an abundant, inexpensive source of energy; | 9 |
and | 10 |
WHEREAS, America's coal miners, who have strengthened | 11 |
America's economy and resource independence through their | 12 |
dedicated labor, need their country's financial help now. The | 13 |
United Mine Workers of America's 1974 pension plan, which supports | 14 |
more than 100,000 workers, is severely underfunded and on the | 15 |
brink of insolvency due to the 2008 financial crisis; and | 16 |
WHEREAS, If the 1974 pension plan were to become insolvent, | 17 |
reductions in union members' pensions would be imminent. This | 18 |
reduction would not only harm the workers and their families, but | 19 |
the hundreds of small businesses that depend on those pensioners | 20 |
for their livelihood; now therefore be it | 21 |
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 130th General Assembly | 22 |
of the State of Ohio, urge the Congress of the United States to | 23 |
enact the Coal Mine Health Care and Pension Protection Act in | 24 |
order to ensure that the hard work that Ohio's coal miners perform | 25 |
every day is rewarded with the pensions they deserve and the | 26 |
health care benefits they were promised; and be it further | 27 |
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives | 28 |
transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the | 29 |
Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, | 30 |
the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States | 31 |
Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, and the | 32 |
news media of Ohio. | 33 |