Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter on Monday ahead of a federal funding deadline later this week, urging Republicans to reauthorize federal radiation compensation policy.
The policy, known as the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), is scheduled to expire this spring. The system was originally established in 1990 to compensate Americans exposed to radiation during the Manhattan Project and Cold War-era experiments. While RECA has compensated many people, there are still people waiting on claims and certain affected groups are being overlooked, Hawley said.
“It is our duty to reauthorize and renew RECA this spring,” Hawley said in the letter. “We stress that this is not a welfare program. This is a fundamental justice for the people our government has poisoned.” It’s a problem,” he wrote. “We have developed the most advanced nuclear weapons on the planet, but we cannot forget the sacrifices made by the workers of this country.”
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) is pushing to pass RECA reauthorization. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
Hawley was skeptical of additional funding for Ukraine, saying, “If we can send hundreds of billions of dollars in security assistance to other countries, we can spend some of it on our own constituents who deserve it.” he added.
Studies have shown that radiation from decades of mining, processing, and enrichment continues to seep into ruins used during World War II. Cold War.
In the 1940s, as the United States ramped up munitions production in preparation for World War II, the government converted farmland in Weldon Springs, Missouri, into the Weldon Springs Chemical Plant. This factory produced large quantities of TNT and DNT explosives for the war effort.
For Hawley, this issue hits close to home. In his home state of Missouri, a processing plant reportedly mishandled nuclear waste, leaving leaking barrels outside and contaminating a nearby stream where children had played for years. . In her letter, Hawley said many children have since developed cancer.
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Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, January 20, 2023. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
“Tens of thousands of other Americans were exposed to radiation ‘downwind’ from more than 100 air tests conducted in Western states,” Hawley wrote. “In most cases, no one was warned about this danger, and time and time again, the government simply lied.”
But that could delay the legislative process to approve government funding over the weekend, as the Senate races to pass a lifetime spending bill that funds multiple federal agencies. The current temporary spending patch, known as the Continuing Resolution (CR), expires on Friday, and Congress has until then to pass legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown. The Senate has not yet introduced spending agreements on the remaining nine bills.
Hawley’s office told Fox News Digital that he will work to attach RECA’s reauthorization to any future legislative proposals that are likely to be signed into law.
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The Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant is a two-unit nuclear power plant located in Burke County, Georgia, near Waynesboro. (Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)
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This is not the first time Mr. Hawley has tried to improve the chances of reauthorization by attaching RECA to a legislative vehicle that could pass. Last year, the Senate initially National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included Hawley’s RECA amendment, but it was removed just before the package was passed. Hawley’s office speculates that it may have been removed due to cost.
Last year, some Republicans opposed a similar bill by Hawley that included RECA, saying it would cost $100 billion over 10 years. Hawley moved forward with amending that part of the bill, cutting the price tag by billions of dollars, but his colleagues were still unconvinced.
House Speaker Mike Johnson opposes the RECA reauthorization proposal, citing its commitment to reducing the federal deficit.
FOX News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
