A measure to reauthorize and expand compensation to Americans exposed to radiation by nuclear projects owned and operated by the federal government passed in a stand-alone floor vote in the Senate, with a number of Republicans and Democrats voting to move the measure across the chamber.
The measure’s passage in the Senate, in a 69-30 vote, is a win for nuclear contamination victims, who have relied on the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act for remediation of nuclear exposure from testing sites used during World War II and the Cold War. The law’s funding is set to expire in June, and the bill would extend the authorization through fiscal 2026, along with expanding the benefits to more states.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the lead sponsor of the legislation, had previously included the measure in last year’s national defense bill. It was stripped from the bill, though, due to concerns from Republican leadership about its cost. The Congressional Budget Office, which is in charge of providing budgetary and economic information to Congress, had estimated the original bill would cost approximately $147 billion.
After holding up passage of government funding bills to demand a vote for his measure last week, Hawley said he tweaked the legislation to bring the cost down by $100 billion — a significant pare-back. While the geographic expansion provisions had stayed intact, Hawley had brought down the payout maximum for eligible constituents from $150,000 to $100,000 — still an increase from the original threshold of $50,000. The bill would create a new benefit for people living near where the Manhattan Project waste is located in St. Louis.
During Wednesday’s Republican caucus launch, Hawley implored his colleagues to back the bill, arguing the necessity of a reauthorization before funding expires in the summer. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), the Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, also has been reaching out to Democratic colleagues to whip support — handing out pamphlets to different offices to help inform their decisions.
But even with the changes, some Republicans voted against the bill over the lack of methods to pay for the measure. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that he is working with Hawley on figuring out a way to pass the bill in the House and to include pay-for provisions. On Thursday, he voted against the bill.
Other Republicans expressed concerns ahead of the vote over the cost, even after the changes. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who has introduced similar bills addressing RECA, said the price tag was “a little daunting.”
“We want to make sure that people that are affected by it have gotten their issues addressed,” Lummis said in a brief interview. She was another Republican who voted against the bill.
Most notably, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted for the bill, despite being the one to lead the effort to strip the measure from the annual defense bill last year.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was one of two Democrats to vote against the measure, telling the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the government “can’t put even more debt on the country.” Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also voted against the measure.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), a senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, took to the Senate floor to call for his colleagues to vote for the measure — detailing the effects of nuclear tests from the Manhattan Project on the families that lived close by. The Trinity test, the first detonation of the project, occurred in New Mexico, but its impacts are seen across state lines – reaching 46 states, along with Canada and Mexico. The bill would extend coverage to Missouri, Idaho, Montana, Guam, Colorado, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alaska.
“These families still to this day have not received the recognition or the compensation for what they endured so that our nation could be victorious in the Second World War,” Heinrich said. “Nearly a century later, 80 years now, these folks deserve better. They deserve justice.”
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Hawley and Lujan also gave floor speeches to call for support for the measure.
The bill now heads to the House, where it faces an uphill battle with House Republicans seeking to limit government spending. But if it is able to pass muster with the majority of the chamber, it likely would be signed into law by President Joe Biden. The White House released a statement of administrative policy Wednesday that voiced support for the bill — a rare show of bipartisanship.
