Supporters of an expired radiation compensation bill pressed Western Republican congressmen facing tough re-election campaigns in a letter Thursday to support a reauthorized, expanded version of the bill.
The letter, obtained by The Hill, urges recipients to ask House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to vote on a bill to expand and reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which expired earlier this summer.
The letter was addressed to Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Juan Ciscomani (R-Az.), Lori Chavez Deremer (R-Ore.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mo.), Monica de la Cruz (R-Texas), David Schweikart (R-Ariz.) and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.). Chavez Deremer, Ciscomani and Schweikart all represent districts that voted for President Biden in 2020.
The RECA expansion bill passed the Senate by a 2-1 margin in March, but Johnson has yet to introduce the bill to the Assembly. Johnson's office told The Hill earlier this year that the speaker was concerned about the price tag of the bill and whether it, which passed with the support of a minority of the Republican caucus, would get the votes in the Republican-controlled Assembly.
The letter specifically points out the relevance of RECA to the western and southwestern U.S., where the federal government conducted the Manhattan Project during World War II. While the original RECA law did not cover areas downwind of the 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test, the Senate bill would add these areas as beneficiaries, in addition to the affected areas of Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Guam.
Signatories to the letter include the Navajo Nation, National Association of Nuclear Veterans, Idaho Downwinders, Just Moms STL and the United Nuclear Justice Workers Union.
“We are dying, and for those of us who have been unwittingly harmed by government negligence, it is vital that this life-saving program is restored and improved. It is the right thing to do,” the letter reads.
The Hill has reached out to members for comment.
