Sponsors (11)
The bill broadens and speeds financial relief for disabled miners and their survivors and reduces claimants' out-of-pocket legal and medical costs, but it increases fiscal exposure for the federal fund and financial pressure on some mine operators while changing legal-incentive structures around claim disputes.
Miners who died while totally disabled by pneumoconiosis and their survivors are more likely to have deaths presumed caused by the disease and may receive recommendations for higher or more adequate benefit amounts, increasing chances of winning benefits and boosting financial support for affected families.
Qualifying claimants can get up-front attorney-fee coverage and reimbursement for unreimbursed medical costs (with specified caps) and the Secretary must implement the fee/medical payment program within 180 days, reducing out-of-pocket legal and medical expenses and providing quicker, predictable administrative relief.
Congress will receive a GAO report within a year on interim-payment recoupment practices, costs, and stress impacts, providing evidence to inform legislative or regulatory fixes that could reduce harmful recoupment surprises, protect claimant mental health, and identify federal cost-savings or administrative improvements.
Expanding presumptions and the possibility of higher recommended benefits shift more claim-payment risk onto the federal Black Lung fund and liable operators, increasing taxpayer exposure and long-term federal costs.
Operators (especially small mine companies) face greater retroactive liability for claims going back up to five years, raising the risk of severe financial strain or insolvency for some businesses.
Requiring the fund to pay attorneys' fees and medical costs up front when operators cannot, combined with caps on fee reimbursements, may reduce attorneys' willingness to take complex cases, shift dispute resolution burdens to government enforcement, and lower representation quality for some claimants.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Strengthens presumptions that miners' deaths were caused by pneumoconiosis, restores pre-1981 recognition of totally disabled miners at death, creates a fund-supported attorneys’ fee/medical expense program, and orders GAO reviews.
Official title: To amend the Black Lung Benefits Act to ease the benefits process for survivors of miners whose deaths were due to pneumoconiosis.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Morgan McGarvey · Last progress December 16, 2025
Strengthens federal benefits for coal miners and their survivors by making it easier to establish that a miner’s death was caused by pneumoconiosis (black lung), restores pre-1981 language recognizing miners who were totally disabled by the disease at death, and expands who may receive benefits. It also creates a program to reimburse attorneys’ fees and reasonable unreimbursed medical expenses from the Black Lung fund for qualifying contested claims, and directs the Government Accountability Office to review interim and ongoing benefit payments and related issues and report to Congress within one year.