Mitch McConnell owes coal miners an answer as clock runs out on tax for black lung victims

Kentuckians bringing a plea for victims of black lung to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will have a hard time being heard above the clamor of coal industry money — more than $2 million poured into federal races in the last two years by Alliance Resources CEO Joe Craft alone.

Unless Congress acts, a tax on coal production that pays medical and other costs for black lung victims and their dependents will be slashed at the end of this month.