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524US2

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EASTERN ENTERPRISES v. APFEL

Breyer, J., dissenting

beneﬁts, and working conditions were a “quid pro quo” for
automation).

Others have reached similar conclusions. The Coal Com-

mission more recently said:

“Retired coal miners have legitimate expectations of
health care beneﬁts for life; that was the promise they
received during their working lives and that is how
they planned their retirement years. That commitment
should be honored.” Coal Comm’n Report 1, App.
(CA1) 1332.

And numerous supporters of the present law read the his-
tory as showing, for example, that the “miners went to work
each day under the assumption that their health beneﬁts
would be there when they retired.”
138 Cong. Rec. 20121
(1992) (Sen. Wofford); see also id., at 20118 (Sen. Rockefeller)
(Coal Act “will see to it that the promise of health care is
kept to tens of thousands of retired coal miners and their
families”); id., at 20119 (Sen. Byrd) (Coal Act will “assure . . .
retired coal miners . . . that promises made to them during
their working years are not now . . . reneged upon”); id., at
20120 (Sen. Ford) (Coal Act assures that “promise made to
[retirees] can be kept”); id., at 34001 (Conference Report on
Coal Act) (“Under [NBCWA’s], retirees and their dependents
have been promised lifetime health care beneﬁts”).

Further, the Federal Government played a signiﬁcant role
in developing the expectations that these “promises” created.
In 1946, as mentioned above, during a strike related to
health and pension beneﬁts, the Government seized the
mines and imposed the “Krug-Lewis Agreement,” which es-
tablished the basic health beneﬁts framework. Supra, at
561; see also 11 Fed. Reg. 5593 (1946) (President Truman’s
seizure order).
In 1948, during a strike related to pension
beneﬁts, the Government again intervened to ensure contin-
ued availability of these beneﬁts.
13 Fed. Reg. 1579 (1948)
(Executive Order creating board to inquire into strike); Kraj-