June 30, 2026 - A bill introduced Tuesday in the U.S. House by Pittsburgh-area Rep. Summer Lee aims to boost federal benefits for coal miners disabled by black lung disease, and to protect the benefits from rising inflation.

Lee put forward the Support Our Miners Act in response to resolutions from more than 80 municipalities across Allegheny County and Appalachia — and in response to a years-long erosion in benefits.

"Coal miners sacrificed their health to power this country, and they deserve benefits that allow them to live with dignity," Lee said in a statement. "The Support Our Miners Act is about keeping our promise to workers, honoring their sacrifices, and ensuring miners suffering from black lung receive the support they have earned.”

Black lung, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, develops when miners inhale microscopic specks of dust that scar their lungs and, in the worst cases, turn them black. The scarring thickens and inflames the lung tissue, eventually making it debilitatingly hard to breathe.

For more than a half century, federal law has allowed mineworkers (and, in some cases after a miner’s death, their families) to collect monthly benefits and medical insurance to help cover healthcare costs associated with the disease.

But while the benefits are paid by the miner’s employer, the payment rates are tied to the federal pay scale, not the cost of living. And those benefits simply haven’t kept up with rampant inflation, according to a report from Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center and the nonprofit Appalachian Voices released earlier this year.

When the compensation program was created in 1969, miners disabled by black lung disease received $144.50 a month. Today, the base payment is $793.60 — only 60% of what it would be if adjusted for inflation.

“It is not a viable economic alternative for these families, and it can thrust them into poverty. It's devastating,” said Rebecca Shelton, the director of policy at Appalachian Citizen’s Law Center. The nonprofit, public interest law firm represents miners in their black lung disability claims. “Not only are you sick — really sick — and unable to do all of the things that you used to be able to do, and may not live as long of a life, but you also are faced with extreme financial stress.”

Lee’s bill would recalculate the benefits, raising the base rate to the inflation-adjusted $1,252.50. Future increases would be tied to the actual cost of living, ensuring the payments don’t again lose value over time.