WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is supporting a bipartisan effort to help Delphi retirees, including many in Mississippi, have access to affordable health care. The measure, authored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, would extend the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) for eligible retirees until January 1, 2016.

“Hundreds of Mississippi families were affected by the fallout of the General Motors bailout, which slashed their hard-earned pensions and benefits,” Wicker said. “This proposal would ensure that those retirees receive much-needed health coverage. I urge the Senate to provide relief for these Americans by considering this legislation as soon as possible.”

The HCTC was intended to assist trade-affected workers; select groups of retirees, such as Delphi salaried retirees; and their families. It allowed them to purchase private health coverage to replace lost employer-sponsored coverage. The program expired in January 2014.

In addition to Wicker and Brown, the amendment is cosponsored by Senators Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Robert Casey, D-Pa., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.