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Incidence of disease in coal miners is occurring at an unprecedented rate and today’s miners have higher mortality rates from lung disease than previous generations of miners.1 In Central Appalachia, 1 in 5 tenured miners has black lung disease and 1 in 20 have the most severe and totally disabling form of the disease - Progressive Massive Fibrosis (PMF). [...] “Continued Increase in the Presence of Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis in the United States, 1970 - 2017.” Blackley et al, AJPH, September 2018 The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides funding for 15 black lung clinics across the country. [...] 3 The CDC’s Occupational Health and Safety Budget includes funding for two important programs for miners: the Mining Research program and the Enhanced Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (ECWHSP). [...] We urge you to fully fund the CDC’s FY25 Occupational Health and Safety budget request at $363.2 million in order to continue these critical programs.4 In addition to MSHA’s budget, we ask you to adjust how monthly black lung benefit rates are calculated. [...] Congress simply needs to tie black lung benefit adjustments to the cost of living rather than the federal pay scale.