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Radiation Exposure Compensation Act added to Senate’s 'One Big Beautiful Bill'
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Legislation to expand a program that compensates people who got sick after experiencing atomic radiation from nuclear bomb tests or uranium mining could have a new chance at passage, but Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who has advocated for the program since he was first elected, will likely vote against it.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., got a Radiation Exposure Compensation Act extension and expansion added to the base text of the Senate budget bill. It would include New Mexico downwinders for the first time.
Hawley and Luján, D-N.M., introduced a stand-alone expansion bill in January.
“The federal government dumped nuclear waste in the backyards of Missourians for decades — and then lied about it,” Hawley said in a statement. “These survivors sacrificed their health for our national security at the advent of the Manhattan Project.”
The legislation would expand the program to include new downwind areas in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona; increase benefits for atmospheric testing survivors; add uranium mine workers from 1971 to 1990; expand eligible diseases; and make residents in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska who were exposed to contamination eligible.
Luján has been vocal in his opposition to the budget bill, which would make steep cuts to food aid and Medicaid. A recently released Senate draft aims to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid spending over 10 years.
“I was proud to pass RECA twice in the Senate with bipartisan support,” Luján said in a statement. “We can — and should — do it again, without ripping away health care or food assistance from those who need it most.”
