“There’s nothing clean about this bill . . . It leaves Missouri filthy, dirty with nuclear radiation.”
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blasted the so-called “clean” extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). Senator Hawley objected to the proposal which would have extended the program without any additional coverage for the hundreds of thousands of victims across America in places like Missouri.
“Well, there is nothing clean about this bill. No, it leaves Missouri filthy, dirty, with nuclear radiation […] What has the federal government done? Not a thing. What would this bill do? Not a thing,” said Senator Hawley.
He continued, “for fifty years the United States government hasn’t paid a penny in my state, in New Mexico, [to] the Navajo Nation, in Arizona, to the miners, our veterans, nothing. Nothing. They’re the ones who made the mess. In Missouri, it’s still not cleaned up.”
Click here or above to watch the entire speech.
“I will not consent to any short term stop gap, to any halfway measure. I will not give my consent to it. It will not pass this floor with my consent. This body has acted. This body has spoken and there can be no turning back now. We are not going to turn our backs on the victims. Not any longer. It’s been fifty years in the state of Missouri. It’s been just as long in New Mexico. It’s been just as long for the Navajo Nation. It’s been just as long for the uranium miners, our veterans. There can be no going back now,” he concluded.
Background:
Senator Hawley has been the leading voice in the fight to secure just compensation for nuclear radiation victims, including Missourians in the greater St. Louis area and Americans across the country.
Senator Hawley’s legislation to reauthorize and expand RECA has passed the Senate twice with overwhelming bipartisan support. It is now incumbent on the House of Representatives to send Senator Hawley’s legislation to the floor for a vote.
Click here to dive deeper into Senator Hawley’s fight to update RECA before compensation funds go dark in less than a month.