Story highlights Health benefits for about 22,000 retired coal miners are to set to expire this weekend

Lawmakers are working on an agreement to extend the benefits in the spending bill

Washington (CNN) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin "must have fallen out of bed" Thursday morning after seeing tweets from President Donald Trump accusing Democrats of trying to block health benefits for coal miners.

"Tell Chuck I was already up," Manchin quipped to reporters, responding to the comment. "I might have cut myself while I was shaving, but I was already up."

Health benefits for about 22,000 retired coal miners are to set to expire this weekend. Lawmakers are working on an agreement to extend the benefits in the spending bill that's currently being debated in Congress, but has yet to pass ahead of its Friday deadline.

The issue has support from members of both parties, and Manchin said Thursday that all 48 Democrats in the Senate are behind a push for a permanent rather than short-term, solution to keep the payments going in the face of future spending battles in Congress.

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