Sponsors (11)
The bill increases survivors' access to and financial relief from Black Lung benefits and establishes an evidence base for program fixes, at the cost of higher near-term liabilities for taxpayers and operators and potential trade-offs in attorney representation and short-term policy delays.
Survivors of miners who were totally disabled by pneumoconiosis at death are more likely to have those deaths presumed caused by the disease, increasing survivors' chances of receiving benefits.
A fund-based program (to be established within 180 days) will reimburse qualifying claimants' attorneys' fees and unreimbursed medical costs up to statutory caps, lowering out-of-pocket legal and medical expenses and speeding claim resolution.
Congress will receive a GAO report within a year that provides evidence-based analysis of interim payment recoupment and taxpayer costs, giving lawmakers a clearer basis for legislative or regulatory fixes to the Black Lung program.
Expanding presumptions and widening eligibility shifts greater claim payment risk onto the benefit fund and liable operators, raising costs for taxpayers and increasing financial exposure (including retroactive liability) for mine operators.
Caps on fee reimbursements (and specific limits on recoverable fees/expenses) may make attorneys less willing to take complex or borderline cases, reducing access to quality representation for low-income claimants.
When the fund pays attorneys' fees and medical costs up front because operators cannot, it may blunt operators' incentives to contest weak claims and shift dispute resolution and cost-allocation burdens onto government enforcement.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Strengthens presumptions that miner deaths were caused by pneumoconiosis, adds a fund‑financed attorney/medical expense payment program, and orders GAO reviews of benefits.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Morgan McGarvey · Last progress December 16, 2025
Expands federal protections for coal miners and their survivors by strengthening legal presumptions that a miner’s death was caused by pneumoconiosis and restoring prior language recognizing miners who were totally disabled by the disease at death. Creates a program, funded from the existing black lung fund, to pay certain attorneys' fees and reimburse unreimbursed medical expenses for qualifying contested claims, and directs the Government Accountability Office to complete several reviews of benefit payments and related procedures and report to Congress within one year.