Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1637 - Black Lung Benefits Restoration Act

(SENT 9/30/92)
(House Rules) and SENT to House 10/1/92 (Murphy (D) PA and 36 others)

If H.R. 1637 were presented to the President, the Secretary of Labor would recommend a veto. The most objectionable provisions of H.R. 1637 would:

—   Require the Department of Labor to refund to beneficiaries any interim disability overpayments it has recovered. This would cost the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which is now approximately $3.5 billion in debt, an additional $30 million.

—   Repeal the Department of Labor's existing authority to collect interim disability benefits it pays to black lung survivors whose claims are ultimately disallowed. The Government has fiduciary obligations as administrator of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. This requires collection of overpayments from recipients who have the resources to make repayments without undergoing hardship.

—   Provide benefit entitlements to survivors of disabled miners, even if the cause of death was unrelated to black lung disease. This would reverse 1981 amendments to limit such benefits to cases Where the cause of death was due to occupational respiratory disease. It would also, for the first time, require continued payments after the surviving spouse remarries.

—   Expand the circumstances under which fees are payable to claimants' attorneys. No fees should be paid until and unless the individual claims are ultimately found to be meritorious.

These provisions would be costly and violate the pay-as-you-go provisions of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 because no offsets are provided.

Scoring for the Purpose of Pay-As-You-Go

H.R. 1637 would increase direct spending; therefore, it is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA). No offsets to the direct spending increases are provided in the bill. A budget point of order applies in the House against any bill that is not fully offset under CBO scoring. If, contrary to the Administration's recommendation, the House waives any such point of order that applies against H.R. 1637, enactment of this legislation would add to the end of year pay-as-you-go requirement, which must be met to avoid sequester.

OMB's preliminary scoring estimates for this bill are presented in the table below. Final scoring of this legislation may deviate from this estimate. If H.R. 1637 were enacted, final OMB scoring estimates would be published five days after enactment as required under OBRA. The cumulative effect of all enacted legislation on the pay-as-you-go requirement will be issued in monthly reports transmitted to Congress.

Estimates for Pay-As-You-Go
Fiscal Years
($ in millions)