"The MINER ACT required MSHA to be in charge of communication with families and the press during a rescue in order to prevent the dissemination of incorrect and misleading information. The first test of this new authority was at Crandall Canyon, and it failed miserably," said Miller, the committee's chairman.

In the days following the Crandall Canyon accident, mine owner Bob Murray personally handled meetings with the miners' families and the media. At a House committee hearing last month, families of miners who died in the accident blamed Murray and MSHA officials for poor treatment and communication.

But Bishop called the new bill's provision "superfluous," saying the law in place already calls for better communication.

Republicans on the committee tried three different amendments to the bill, from a one-sentence change to one that would have removed major portions of the bill. All three failed, although Bishop voted in favor of all three.

Miller said the law approved in 2006 "was too weak," with deadlines for implementing new policies and regulations too far in the future.

"Our aim is a simple one: We want to do everything we can to ensure that miners are able to return home safely at the end of their shifts," said Miller, who describes his bill a "comprehensive approach to minimize the health and safety risks facing miners."

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., the committee's top Republican, called Miller's updates to the current law "premature at best."

"At worst, I fear it could undermine critical efforts to enhance mine safety," McKeon said. "I cannot support any proposal that could undermine or impede the progress that is being made."

MSHA head Richard Stickler wrote the committee Monday saying that the bill has good intentions, but some provisions in the bill "would mandate 10 regulatory changes, impose at least 16 new mandates, create new unneeded offices with MSHA and fundamentally change the MSHA accident investigation process."

Stickler said that even if all the changes in the bill can be justified on their own, "taken as a whole, the proposed changes would cause serious administrative problems for MSHA, weaken several critical MSHA safety standards, and in some instances, impose new safety requirements that are unrealistic or unlikely to make a substantive improvement in mine safety and health."

But the United Mine Workers of America International called Miller's bill a "huge step in the right direction for the health and safety of American coal miners."