Coal miners are not happy with Sen. Joe Manchin

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., killed President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act and he certainly gained no admirers with that decision.

The day after the bill appeared to be dealt its death blow courtesy of Manchin, he faced backlash from America’s largest coal mining union. It put out a statement lauding the legislation’s provisions and pushing the senator to take a do-over.

“We are disappointed that the bill will not pass,” Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said in the statement Monday, according to a CNN report. “We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families and their communities.”

Of the several items the 131-year-old UMWA cited as crucial to its members was extending the fee paid by coal companies, to fund benefits received by victims of black lung.

Roberts said the fee will not be cut by 50%, which will shift the burden of paying the benefits onto the taxpayers and away from the coal companies. Another benefit in the Build Back Better plan was tax incentives that would encourage manufacturers to build facilities in coal fields, which would create thousands of jobs for unemployed coal miners.

On Sunday, Manchin cited several reasons for not being willing to pass the Build Back Better bill. Chief among them was concerns about inflation, the pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty.

“I have always said, ‘If I can’t go back home and explain it, I can’t vote for it,’” Manchin said in the CNN report. “Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia and I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation.”

We’ll have to stay tuned to find out what sort of fallout Manchin will face in West Virginia.