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Our Opinion: Right thing

U.S. senators will go along with a plan to assure more than 22,000 retired miners and their families their health insurance will not be cut off in a few days, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters Wednesday. He added that President Donald Trump supports the action.

That leaves just one strand missing in the lifeline the retirees need and have earned: the House of Representatives.

As we have reported, the retirees’ health insurance program was supported for decades by fees on every ton of coal mined. The near-collapse of the coal industry has brought the system within days of insolvency.

Because federal government action is to blame for much of the coal industry’s woes, Washington owes the retirees something. It owes them the security they have every right to believe they are due.

Action to provide a permanent bailout for the insurance program is to be included in a $1 trillion spending bill Congress is expected to address this week. The price tag for helping the retirees is expected to be about $1.3 billion.

But even with Trump and senators on board, the assistance cannot be approved without the House’s acquiescence. On that side of the Capitol, some lawmakers want to approve no more than a temporary bailout, lasting about 20 months.

That already has been done, with a four-month reprieve scheduled to expire in a few days.

House members should go along with the Senate and with the president. They should agree to the permanent bailout.

Why? Quite simply because it is the right thing to do.

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