As the shortened summer session of Congress was winding down, supporters of the Miners Protection Act. – S.1714 – in the United States Senate used several legislative procedures to secure a September vote for the bill in the Senate Finance Committee.
The bill’s two lead sponsors, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), went to the floor of the Senate as a bill to provide billions of dollars to Puerto Rico bill moving forward unless action was taken on S. 1714. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) joined them in that position.
After discussions between Senate leadership of both parties, it was agreed that the Finance Committee would hold a vote on the bill – called a “mark-up” in Congressional terms – in September.
“I am very encouraged by the bi-partisan agreement by Senate leadership and members to hold a mark-up vote in the Senate Finance Committee on the Miners Protection Act,” President Roberts said. “We have been asking for this action to be taken for months, because time is growing very short if the health care benefits for tens of thousands of retirees are to be saved.”
