Coal miners from Western Pennsylvania are planning to march on Washington this week.  At stake is health care retirement benefits for tens of thousands of retired union miners.  

In 1946, President Harry Truman brokered with the United Mine Workers Association to avoid a massive strike. That deal promised lifetime retirement benefits for all UMWA workers.  

That promise is becoming harder to keep. In recent years money in the UMWA Pension fund has been running out.  Lawmakers are expected to vote later this month on whether to extend the agreement.  Some say it amounts to nothing more than a bailout, one that the government can not afford.

This could become a hot button issue, especially in coal mining states like West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

That is why the UMWA is holding a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol at 11 a.m. on Thursday, September 8.  The union has set up a page on Facebook with more information.

The UMWA say the promise has been kept up to now. But with the majority of the coal industry in bankruptcy, companies are getting out of their obligation to provide benefits and contribute to the fund.

This could become a hot button issue in November.  U.S. Senate Candidate Kathleen McGinty says she supports continuing the pension fund. Her opponent, incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey has yet to comment.

Neither the Clinton nor Trump campaign have made any comment on the pension fund, but Trump has vowed to bring back coal mining jobs.

Meantime, Hillary Clinton says she has a plan to help those coal miners who lost jobs find work elsewhere. 

Many industry experts say it is unlikely that the coal mining industry will ever make a comeback.