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- Advocates are urging Congress to expand radiation compensation for downwinders before year's end.
- A Senate bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, proposes expanded coverage and along with extended the compensation program that expired in June.
WASHINGTON — With less than 20 working days remaining this year, advocates for those exposed to radiation from mid-century nuclear tests are asking the lame-duck Congress to expand and reauthorize compensation to downwinders.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, also known as RECA, was originally passed by Congress in 1990 to provide some restitution to people with illnesses linked to radiation exposure. The program was extended by two years in 2022 but lapsed over the summer when the House of Representatives declined to take up a Senate bill that reauthorized RECA and expanded the eligibility pool.
Now, with just 19 working days left in the 118th U.S. Congress, advocates from 16 states — including Utah — and one territory, penned a letter to Congress, urging House lawmakers to approve the coverage expansion. Advocates said they were told Congress would use the last two years to "improve the program" to cover more radiation victims, and that the Senate's bill earlier this year would do just that, according to the letter obtained by KSL.com.
"But rather than follow through on their promise and pass this bill in the House, Congress did the exact opposite: it allowed RECA to expire," the letter states. "Now, the House is yet again asking us to accept a mere extension of RECA, once again saying that they will use that time to improve the program. But while we wait for Congress to fix this flawed program, people are getting sicker and people are dying. We cannot afford to wait again. We cannot be asked to accept more cancers, more deaths, more bankruptcies in our communities while Congress goes back on its promises."
This year's Senate proposal, S3853, is sponsored by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, and passed with broad support in March. The bill extends the deadline to apply for compensation by six years and expands the number of fallout victims who are covered.
It would expand the program to cover those exposed to radiation from nuclear tests in northern Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Guam. If passed, the bill would also expand the list of illnesses covered and add coverage for affected uranium miners from several states — including Missouri.
Both of Utah's senators voted against that bill earlier this year and told KSL.com they supported an extension of RECA but thought the current proposal was too big in scope.
"Without clear evidence linking previous government action to the expanded list of illnesses — and a price tag north of $50 billion — Sen. Romney could not support the legislation," a spokesperson said at the time.
Mary Dickson, a Salt Lake City playwright and thyroid cancer survivor, said she is "incredibly nervous" but "cautiously optimistic" about the prospect of the House approving the Senate bill before year's end.
"We really need to see that expansion happen and soon because this is a dwindling population. People are literally dying off and there are a lot of people who just can't wait," she told KSL.com Wednesday.
Dickson said she believes the Utah delegation could play a big part in getting the bill to the floor of the House, given that a significant number of Utahns were exposed to radiation following nuclear tests in Nevada. Residents of 10 Utah counties — Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington and Wayne — were covered by RECA.
A spokesperson for Rep. Celeste Maloy, who represents many of those counties in Utah's 2nd Congressional District, said "Maloy has not forgotten about Utah's downwinders" and that she has been "working tirelessly to reauthorize RECA and has held vigorous debates with her colleagues in the House and Senate to pass a commonsense proposal."
"Earlier this year, she introduced a clean reauthorization bill with Sen. Lee. Since then she has been negotiating with colleagues who want expanded bills," the spokesperson said of Maloy. "She believes Utahns who are entitled to compensation because of radiation exposure caused by the federal government deserve straightforward treatment and not gamesmanship from Congress."
The House is in session until next Nov. 21, when it recesses for a week over the Thanksgiving holiday. Lawmakers will return to Washington on Dec. 3 and work until Dec. 19.
