Republican Senator asks RFK Jr. to save health unit that protects coal miners

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. connected Monday to reinstate programs aimed astatine protecting ember miners that were deed with layoff notices.

Capito, seat of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee connected Labor, Health and Human Services, said the enactment done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a part of HHS, is captious to her coal-producing authorities and does not duplicate immoderate different authorities program.

HHS announced wide layoffs connected April 1, including astir 875 of NIOSH's astir 1,000-strong workforce.

Around 500 of those employees, who were from the Morgantown, West Virginia, office, worked connected processing products and practices to support ember miners and ran a surveillance programme to observe cases of achromatic lung disease, which is connected the emergence successful cardinal Appalachia.

"I americium acrophobic that the RIFs (reductions successful force) astatine NIOSH volition undermine the captious wellness programs important to truthful galore West Virginians. I impulse you to bring backmost the NIOSH employees instantly truthful they tin proceed to enactment our nation’s ember industry," she wrote successful a missive sent to RFK Jr.

She said she precocious met with RFK Jr., who she said agreed with the information that NIOSH's enactment is unique.

Reuters reported that the cuts to NIOSH person removed cardinal national protections disposable to miners, who are progressively susceptible to a much terrible signifier of achromatic lung illness caused by vulnerability to silica dust.

A decades-old programme operated by NIOSH to observe lung illness successful ember miners has been suspended. Related programs to supply x-rays and lung tests astatine excavation sites person besides unopen down.

The nonaccomplishment of unit astatine NIOSH has besides crippled achromatic lung-afflicted miners' quality to get relocated with wage arsenic portion of the Part 90 program.

Capito warned that HHS volition statesman the process of decommissioning the labs, including the West Virginia location, successful the coming days, which would outgo taxpayers millions of dollars. Restarting them would besides adhd further costs, she said.

"I judge successful the President’s imaginativeness to close size our government, but I bash not deliberation eliminating the NIOSH ember programs and probe volition execute that goal," she wrote.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Mark Porter)