'Poisoned By Their Own Government': Josh Hawley Spars With Mike Lee Over Radiation Compensation Bill

4 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) debated Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) over a bill that would provide compensation to those affected by the Federal Government's nuclear weapons testing.

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Transcript

00:00 Mr. President, for over three decades, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA

00:07 as it's frequently described, has stood as a testament to our nation's enduring commitment

00:14 to righting the wrongs of the past.

00:18 Where it's hurt someone, it wants to do something about it.

00:22 Since 1990, this vital program has distributed over $2.4 billion to more than 38,000 individuals

00:31 adversely affected by the fallout from atomic weapons testing and the uranium industry labor.

00:39 These Americans suffered due to federal activities and decisions beyond their control, enduring

00:45 illnesses that span generations.

00:49 Yet as we speak, RECA is on the brink of expiration.

00:53 On June 10th, just 18 days from now, unless we act, the sun will set on a program that

01:00 has provided essential relief to those still living with the horrific consequences of radiation

01:06 exposure.

01:08 Among those, among these are not only just the downwinders affected by nuclear tests,

01:16 but also the hardworking uranium miners, mill workers, and transporters contracted by the

01:22 federal government in connection with federal activities.

01:26 Their suffering was part of the price of our national security during the Cold War, and

01:34 their plight must not be forgotten.

01:38 So while we debate the merits and the potential expansions of RECA, it is unthinkable that

01:46 we would interrupt access to aid for those currently suffering.

01:50 Those current beneficiaries, those currently eligible for RECA compensation, they consist

01:58 of people who no one disputes have been harmed.

02:03 So we don't want to interrupt coverage to them simply because we're talking about who

02:07 else might also need to be covered under this program.

02:14 The bill I propose is a clean extension of the existing program.

02:19 It maintains the existing RECA framework, ensuring no disruption in access to compensation

02:25 while we deliberate on how best to enhance and extend its reach.

02:30 And I don't dispute that it's appropriate to expand and extend its reach in certain

02:36 respects because there are some people not currently covered by it.

02:39 But again, we don't want to harm those who are the current beneficiaries, and there's

02:43 no reason why their coverage should lapse.

02:48 The proposal previously passed by the Senate to expand RECA includes regions and additional

02:54 compensation claims in a variety of jurisdictions.

03:00 In some of those instances, they're abundantly backed by data.

03:04 In others, they're not.

03:05 In some of those areas, there may be victims who are covered by other programs.

03:10 In others, there may not be.

03:12 And some of them, they're clearer than others.

03:14 I think some of the clearest cases are of those involving victims in the state of Missouri

03:21 and in the state of New Mexico, and we'll talk more about those in a little bit.

03:28 The current bill does have some challenging aspects to it, challenging from the standpoint

03:37 of moving forward toward passage.

03:41 The bill as it stands risks inflating the deficit by at least $60 billion.

03:46 That's at the low end.

03:47 And it may jeopardize the longevity of access to necessary resources for Americans who depend

03:52 on RECA compensation for the reimbursement of costs associated with medical care or survivor

03:58 benefits in the event a family member tragically passed away due to exposure.

04:04 That I will not do.

04:06 And I'm not alone.

04:08 You see, the House of Representatives has thus far declined to take up and pass Senator

04:12 Hawley's previous bill, with some signaling concern, embracing some of the concerns that

04:19 I just restated.

04:22 It's deeply troubling that amidst urgent need, we might find ourselves entangled in one form

04:28 or another of brinksmanship, sitting on our hands waiting for an unjustly expansive and

04:34 unattainable bill, one that no one believes can be passed by the House.

04:40 Expecting that that bill will be passed at the 11th hour puts real lives at risk, if

04:46 what that means is that the existing RECA structure can't be reauthorized.

04:51 So I refuse to stand by and let the program lapse while we continue to search for a solution

04:56 for legitimate victims in Missouri and New Mexico.

05:02 We can't allow access to RECA's benefits to be held hostage during those negotiations.

05:08 Now I too am in favor of some of this expansion, including and especially the expansion for

05:13 New Mexico and for Missouri.

05:18 I think those categories of would-be beneficiaries do need to be added.

05:26 But we can't allow access to the benefits for the existing RECA beneficiaries to be

05:32 held hostage during those.

05:35 But until we can iron out some of the details more carefully, it's no less imperative that

05:42 we pass a straightforward extension that will allow support for the existing beneficiaries

05:50 to continue without interruption.

05:52 Those people haven't done anything wrong.

05:54 There's no reason why they should be punished based on the fact that we haven't yet found

06:02 a solution that can pass through both houses of Congress and make it to the president's

06:07 desk.

06:11 With the clock ticking down to just 18 days, less than three weeks before RECA expires,

06:20 every moment that jeopardizes benefits for those suffering the consequences of our nation's

06:25 past actions is significant.

06:29 And we should find that troubling.

06:31 Now these individuals do not have the luxury of time that seems at times so abundant in

06:36 Washington.

06:37 They need our help now.

06:39 And they deserve swift and unencumbered continuation of access to the support that RECA provides

06:46 while we work out the other issues.

06:49 And so I urge my colleagues in Congress to not allow RECA to lapse.

06:56 Let's pass this clean reauthorization.

06:58 Let's do it right now.

06:59 And let's send a clear message that America takes care of its own.

07:04 To that end, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the

07:08 committee on the judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 4175 and that

07:14 the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

07:17 Further that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion

07:21 to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

07:24 Is there objection?

07:27 Senator from Missouri.

07:28 Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

07:33 Mr. President, I have literally grown hoarse coming to this floor defending the rights

07:42 of Americans poisoned by their own government to be compensated by that government when

07:48 through no fault of their own, they have been exposed to nuclear radiation, nuclear waste,

07:55 nuclear contamination in the soil, in the water, in the air.

08:00 Now just listen to my friend from Utah describe this 11th hour bill after the Senate has spoken

08:07 to this issue multiple times, Mr. President, multiple times.

08:12 After that has been done, now my friend from Utah comes and says we need a clean extension,

08:17 a clean extension.

08:18 Clean.

08:19 Oh, there's nothing clean about this bill.

08:23 No, it leaves Missouri filthy, dirty with nuclear radiation.

08:29 Let's just remember how it happened.

08:32 All the way back in the Manhattan Project, the United States government used the city

08:36 of St. Louis as a uranium processing site and did the United States government clean

08:41 up the nuclear radiation after the fact?

08:43 No, it did not.

08:45 Did the United States government warn the people of Missouri that they were in fact

08:49 being poisoned by nuclear radiation?

08:51 No, they did not.

08:53 What they did instead is they lied to the people of Missouri.

08:56 While the nuclear contamination seeped into our groundwater, seeped into our soil, for

09:02 50 years and more, the people of St. Louis and St. Charles and large parts of my state

09:09 have been exposed to nuclear radiation.

09:12 We have the highest rates of breast cancer in the nation in North St. Louis County.

09:18 Entire schools cannot go to school because their classrooms are filled with nuclear radioactive

09:25 material.

09:26 And what has the federal government done?

09:28 Not a thing.

09:29 What would this bill do?

09:31 Not a thing.

09:32 Would it clean it up?

09:33 No.

09:34 Would it clean the lungs of the survivors who even now are dying from the poison they've

09:40 been exposed to?

09:41 No.

09:42 Would it clean the areas of the Navajo Nation that have been overrun with nuclear radiation?

09:48 No.

09:49 Would it clean the mines that our veterans went to for decades exposed to nuclear radiation?

09:54 No.

09:55 No, it would do none of these things.

09:58 Now this bill, I think, partakes of an entirely different philosophy.

10:03 It's the philosophy expressed by the junior senator from Utah, Mr. Romney, who said recently,

10:14 "It's too expensive.

10:15 It's too expensive for the federal government to actually make right what it has done to

10:20 all of these good Americans for decades on end."

10:22 No, instead, what we need to do is pass this bill that the senior senator from Utah is

10:30 now advocating.

10:31 It's a small fraction, he says.

10:33 He's right about that.

10:35 And it's reserved for those individuals who have been determined to have actually suffered.

10:41 To have actually suffered.

10:43 So let's just be clear.

10:45 If you live in Missouri, you are not deemed to have actually suffered under this legislation.

10:51 If you live in New Mexico, you are not deemed to have actually suffered under this legislation.

10:57 Heck, if you live in Utah, you're not deemed to have actually suffered.

11:04 Is there any expansion for the state of Utah in the legislation proposed by the senior

11:08 senator?

11:09 No, there's not.

11:11 Mr. President, we have been here before.

11:15 We have been here for months.

11:17 We have been here for going on years now.

11:20 Senator Lujan and I have passed through this chamber not once, but twice, legislation that

11:24 would reauthorize this critical program and finally do justice to the hundreds of thousands

11:31 of Americans poisoned by their own government.

11:33 And this body has passed it twice.

11:35 The last time by well-nigh 70 votes.

11:38 The time now is to act.

11:40 It is not the time for further delay.

11:42 It is not the time to look away.

11:44 It's not the time to change the subject.

11:46 It is the time for the House to act.

11:49 Study after study has shown the expanse of the nuclear radiation.

11:55 Here's a study from 1997, from 2005, another from 2005, from 2023, all showing that the

12:04 nuclear radiation is far beyond the contours of the original RECA bill passed in 1990.

12:11 And yet my friend from Utah wants to just keep on doing the same old thing, leaving

12:15 out in the cold hundreds of thousands of Americans.

12:18 I will not consent to it.

12:21 Mr. President, this body will not consent to it.

12:24 We have been here before.

12:26 We have had this debate.

12:27 We have settled it.

12:29 And this is not the time to reopen it.

12:32 This is the time for the House to act.

12:34 No more excuses.

12:36 No more delays.

12:38 No more changing of the subject.

12:40 No more blaming of the victims.

12:43 This is the time to stand up and be counted for the House to act.

12:48 Before I object, Mr. President, and I am going to object, I want to yield to my friend, the

12:52 Senator from New Mexico, who has been such a champion in this fight.

12:56 Mr. President.

12:57 No objection.

12:58 Senator from Mexico.

12:59 Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the Radiation Exposure Compensation

13:07 Act yet again.

13:10 And I appreciate this opportunity.

13:13 Because as I have learned, every opportunity we get to talk about the families, to share

13:19 the stories of the families who are dying of cancer and suffering, where the federal

13:24 government has ignored them for decades, we're able to earn one more vote.

13:32 One more member will stand courageously in that well and say we can do the right thing.

13:40 We can ensure that we're going to provide support and coverage for these families.

13:46 I come to the floor today to share the same concerns as my friend, Senator Hawley.

13:53 I've proudly been working on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Amendment Act since

13:58 I was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2009.

14:03 Prior to that, my predecessor in the Senate and in the House, Tom Udall, was working on

14:09 this policy and these issues.

14:12 I've had the honor of speaking with the late Senator Orrin Hatch, may he rest in peace,

14:18 about the faults that were made when this legislation was passed in 1990 and amended

14:23 in 2000 of the families that were left out.

14:27 And after we hear about this approach, we're going to get a chance to talk a little bit

14:37 more about another idea.

14:41 And I hope to be able to share some quotes from Senator Orrin Hatch about how we should

14:48 be working together.

14:49 But today, Mr. President, for this portion, I want to share the story of Mary Dixon.

14:58 And Mary grew up in the fallout of nuclear testing.

15:03 She lived downwind of the Nevada test site where an estimated 100 nuclear tests were

15:09 detonated above ground.

15:14 She has said that all around these testing sites, Utah families were going about their

15:21 daily lives, drinking milk from the local dairies, eating vegetables from the gardens

15:28 that they tended to.

15:30 Heck, the kids would even mix sugar with snow so they could pretend it was ice cream, she

15:36 wrote.

15:37 Now, in my home state of New Mexico, where the first bomb was tested at the Trinity test

15:44 site, just miles from the town of Rio Doso in Tolarosa, kids at summer camp not only

15:51 heard the terrifying sounds of the bomb, they saw the white ash floating down from the sky.

15:57 Those kids thought it was snow as well.

16:00 So they went out to play in it because there was no warning.

16:03 As a matter of fact, the United States government then did something even worse.

16:07 They lied to these families and said that it was just a drop of munitions.

16:15 These kids were playing in radioactive waste.

16:18 These kids ate radioactive waste.

16:22 Apparently some of these kids are now adults fighting for their lives.

16:30 Far too many of these adults faced cancer diagnosis.

16:34 Many faced diagnosis that was similar to their parents or their siblings or their grandparents

16:41 or their neighbors.

16:43 Mary faced her diagnosis at 30.

16:46 Others gave birth to babies with birth defects.

16:48 Far too many died far too young.

16:51 Now, the senator from Utah and I agree that the people of Utah deserve justice.

16:58 I and others like Senator Hawley agree that those impacted in other states deserve justice

17:05 as well.

17:07 And today's exercise is not the answer.

17:10 The Senate has already acted twice.

17:13 Once to amend the National Defense Authorization Act with Democrats and Republicans 61 votes

17:18 strong.

17:20 The same people that once said that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act could not pass to

17:25 the legislative branch, to the House and to the Senate, were taken back that there was

17:30 this enormous vote and success.

17:37 Only a few months later, to see another bill authored by Senator Hawley that I was proud

17:43 to work with him on with the advocates.

17:45 And the advocates should be at the table as we're having these deliberations.

17:49 Where are their voices?

17:51 69 votes said yes.

17:55 So now it sits in the U.S. House of Representatives.

18:00 Where recently even Speaker Johnson's office commented on taking action to make sure that

18:06 this program will not die.

18:11 I appreciate that.

18:14 I certainly hope, Mr. President, that the families that I've had the honor of meeting

18:21 with, that I know Senator Hawley has met with, that all senators here that agree that we

18:29 should take further action on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, meet with them

18:34 as well.

18:35 And I hope the senators start with Mary Dixon.

18:40 Learn her stories.

18:42 Invite her in.

18:44 Get to know her.

18:45 Her advocacy.

18:46 Her plight.

18:48 Because by learning her story, we're going to help countless others all across America.

18:55 So I strongly urge my colleagues to stand with all the victims.

18:59 And I yield the floor.

19:00 Senator from Missouri.

19:03 Mr. President, for a year now, Senator Lujan and I have been coming to this floor and warning,

19:10 that the Radiation Exposure Act is going to expire.

19:15 And that's why this body took action, not once, but twice, in overwhelming bipartisan

19:21 fashion, to expand and extend RECA in a way that does justice to every American, every

19:27 veteran who has been poisoned by their own government.

19:32 And now it is incumbent upon the House to act.

19:35 And I want to be clear, I will not consent to any short-term stopgap, to any halfway

19:40 measure.

19:42 I will not give my consent to it.

19:44 It will not pass this floor with my consent.

19:48 This body has acted.

19:50 This body has spoken.

19:52 And there can be no turning back now.

19:54 We're not going to turn our backs on the victims, not any longer.

19:56 It's been 50 years in the state of Missouri.

19:59 It's been just as long in New Mexico.

20:02 It's been just as long for the Navajo Nation.

20:04 It's been just as long for the uranium miners, our veterans.

20:08 There can be no going back now, Mr. President.

20:12 And so I object.

20:15 The objection is heard.

20:16 Senator from Utah.

20:17 Mr. President, I deeply appreciate the insights offered today by my friends and colleagues,

20:26 and that they truly are.

20:27 The senior senator from Missouri and the junior senator from New Mexico have made an impassioned

20:33 plea, an impassioned plea that I'm deeply sympathetic to for a variety of reasons, including

20:39 and especially the fact that they're both right.

20:42 Their respective states, I mean, the folks in Missouri deserve to have this coverage,

20:48 and so do the people in New Mexico.

20:51 There are also additional people not covered by the existing program in Utah who need to

20:56 be covered.

20:57 And in all three instances, with respect to Utah, New Mexico, and Missouri, we need to

21:05 get this done.

21:06 And taking into account all of the arguments that they have made and the evidence that

21:15 I've reviewed, I'm prepared to do what it takes, and I'm prepared to get this done today.

21:20 As I mentioned, this isn't just an abstract concept to me.

21:26 This is near and dear to my heart.

21:28 Many people I know and love have had their lives altered and in many cases ended by exposure

21:36 to downwind radiation.

21:41 One of those people was a loving husband and father, raised seven children, who was taken

21:48 at the prime of his life, at the peak of his career, just days after his 61st birthday,

21:55 because he was surrounded by his wife and their seven children, one of whom stands at

22:00 this desk today.

22:03 My father died from this in 1996, just 28 years ago.

22:08 And we didn't know at the time, didn't know until years after, that he had in fact been

22:13 a victim of and had died of a cancer linked to his exposure as a child growing up in eastern

22:18 Arizona, spending his summers in a reserve, New Mexico, a small sawmill camp where his

22:27 family lived each summer.

22:29 But he was exposed to downwind radiation, and that led to his untimely death.

22:35 My dad would be nearly 90 if he were alive today, and I can only imagine the youth and

22:44 the vitality that we'd still see in him.

22:46 I'm convinced he'd still be practicing law.

22:49 I'm convinced that he'd still be a runner.

22:53 His life and that of so many others in Utah and Missouri, in New Mexico, have been cut

22:59 tragically short by this exposure, which is why we need to get this done.

23:04 So look, in light of these concerns and the political realities that we face, again, I

23:12 want to make sure that RICA doesn't lapse.

23:15 And so I want to offer an updated version of the Downwinders Act.

23:20 This bill would extend the benefits of those, extend the benefits of the program to those

23:28 in Missouri exposed to the hazards of improperly stored nuclear waste, while also addressing

23:34 the historical oversights in New Mexico and in parts of Utah.

23:41 So when we look at this, we've got to do this to make sure that we're following the science.

23:47 And in all three of those areas, the science is backed up.

23:50 And in all three of those jurisdictions, not only does the science back it up, but there

23:56 aren't other government programs that may overlap with it that provide this compensation.

24:01 Remember, if this were not the US government doing it, this would ultimately be some species

24:07 of tort law.

24:09 But because it's the US government, and the US government as a sovereign entity, you can't

24:13 just sue it unless the US government makes itself amenable to suit.

24:18 And that's really where RICA came in, because of the fact that we're uniquely situated both

24:23 by virtue of what the science currently backs up and the absence of other programs to do

24:28 it.

24:29 I think it makes sense to accord that to these states.

24:32 The other states covered by the legislation now pending in the House that's stalled out

24:37 in the House, it passed here.

24:40 And so that's done.

24:41 It's moved on from this chamber.

24:43 One of the reasons that I understand why it's stalled out in the House is because of cost.

24:47 Now, I don't share that.

24:48 I'm not aware of the full context of the quote provided by my colleague from Utah on that

24:55 quote.

24:56 I don't know whether there was more context there or not.

24:59 But if that was the whole context, I don't share that approach.

25:04 I don't share that sentiment.

25:06 In other words, we don't not do this just because it's expensive.

25:10 The whole thing is expensive.

25:12 The loss of life is expensive.

25:15 And we need to address that.

25:18 The issue is, again, one, whether and to what extent the claims are backed up by the science

25:24 and whether and to what extent there are other programs that already cover it in one way

25:28 or another such that the bill adequately addresses that.

25:33 There are other states in that legislation, pending in the House, that deal with Guam,

25:37 the Marshall Islands, Idaho, Kentucky, Ohio, Alaska, perhaps one or two other jurisdictions.

25:46 The claims in those states are not on equal footing.

25:50 They're different from these claims.

25:52 The Utah and New Mexico claims are very similar.

25:54 They stem from the same sequence of events related primarily to exposure to downwind

26:01 radiation from the atomic weapons testing.

26:06 In Missouri, they're a little bit different, but they share enough of the same elements,

26:09 and they're similarly backed by science.

26:12 In these other jurisdictions, it's a little bit different.

26:15 That's where a lot of the-- not all, but a lot of the expenses accrued and a lot of concerns

26:21 expressed in the House that are impeding its quick passage over there that might lead to

26:25 it not being able to be passed at all.

26:29 But again, look, to ensure we do our due diligence here, where there is uncertainty as to some

26:38 of the other jurisdictions covered by the bill now pending in the House, my bill that

26:43 I'm offering now includes a requirement that the federal government must study and report

26:48 on other regions that should be eligible for compensation.

26:53 We need to get this done.

26:55 I'll continue to fight for the recognition and compensation of all those exposed to radiation

27:00 through no fault of their own, because it's the right thing to do, regardless of cost.

27:06 With the clock ticking down to just 18 days before RICA expires, every moment that jeopardizes

27:11 benefits for those suffering the consequences of our nation's past actions is significant,

27:18 and we can't ignore it.

27:21 These individuals do not have the luxury of time that seems so abundant here in Washington.

27:26 They need our help now, and they deserve a swift and unencumbered continuation of access

27:32 to the support that RICA provides.

27:35 And so I urge my colleagues in Congress to pass the Downwinders Act, this expanded Downwinders

27:41 Act, and send a clear message.

27:44 America takes care of its own.

27:46 And with this legislation, we'll be able to take care of our own and expand the coverage

27:53 to Missouri, to New Mexico, and to the previously unaddressed regions of Utah that have nonetheless

28:00 been affected.

28:01 And so, Mr. President, to that end, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent

28:07 that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4403, which is at the desk.

28:13 I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion

28:17 to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action

28:22 or debate.

28:23 Is there objection?

28:24 Senator from Missouri.

28:26 Mr. President, I think now I've heard my friend from Utah change his position.

28:34 Now he's saying he is willing to acknowledge that there needs to be an expansion of coverage

28:41 for the people of Missouri, for the people of his own state, for the people of New Mexico.

28:45 I'm glad we've gotten to this point.

28:47 I'm glad we're willing to acknowledge finally that indeed there are those who have suffered,

28:54 Americans who have been poisoned by their government, who've never been compensated,

28:58 and it's basic justice to compensate them.

29:00 I think that's now the position that we're at.

29:02 It's taken us a long time to get there.

29:04 But I think that's what I now hear the senior senator from Utah saying.

29:08 I think I also heard him say that cost should not be used as an excuse.

29:12 Let's just be clear about something.

29:13 The cost has been paid.

29:16 It's been paid by the victims.

29:18 Who is it who's paying the medical bills?

29:21 Victims are.

29:22 Who is it who's having to choose whether to do a cancer treatment or be able to afford

29:27 school supplies for their kids?

29:28 The victims are.

29:29 Who are the ones who are having to decide whether they can afford the burial services

29:34 or not for a loved one who's passed away because of nuclear radiation?

29:37 The victims are.

29:39 They're the ones bearing the cost.

29:40 The United States government's gotten off scot-free.

29:42 Fifty years.

29:45 The U.S. government hasn't paid a penny in my state, in New Mexico, the Navajo Nation,

29:52 in Arizona, to the miners, our veterans.

29:56 Nothing.

29:57 Nothing.

29:58 They're the ones who made the mess.

30:00 In Missouri, it's still not cleaned up.

30:02 As I stand here on this floor, Coldwater Creek, still poisoned.

30:08 The Westlake landfill, still burning.

30:12 Weldon Spring, not cleaned up.

30:15 Government hasn't done anything.

30:17 And I'm glad to hear an acknowledgment, finally, that it is time for the federal government

30:22 to take responsibility for what it has done.

30:26 We can all agree on that.

30:30 We can all agree that the time to act is now, which is why this body has acted.

30:35 It's done everything Senator Lee has just talked about.

30:37 We've done it.

30:38 We did it.

30:39 Months ago, months ago, the senator talks about getting this done today.

30:42 It's been done.

30:43 The Senate has done it.

30:46 We passed this bill with nearly 70 votes months ago.

30:51 I urge the senator to use his good offices in the House to speak to Speaker Johnson,

30:56 who pledged, by the way, to the congresswoman from Missouri, Ann Wagner, in a public statement,

31:03 he said the House would take this up and make sure RECA is renewed.

31:08 I believe the senator's right.

31:09 They've got 18 days.

31:11 18 days.

31:12 He made a commitment.

31:14 Let's keep our commitments.

31:15 I urge the senator to use his good offices now that we all agree to get this done in

31:20 the United States House of Representatives.

31:22 That's where the obstacle is.

31:24 But I reiterate, I will not be party to any attempt at some halfway measure, some short

31:31 stopgap bill, or some effort to sweep this under the rug.

31:35 Not anymore.

31:36 The victims have waited too long.

31:37 They've waited too long.

31:38 I'll yield to my friend from New Mexico.

31:41 Mr. President.

31:42 Senator from New Mexico.

31:44 Mr. President, let me begin by quoting Senator Orrin Hatch, the primary author of the Radiation

31:49 Exposure Compensation Act in his final years.

31:55 Senator Hatch said, "Updating this legislation is a moral imperative.

32:01 RECA, as it is currently written, extends benefits only to uranium miners, millers,

32:09 and transporters who worked until 1972, but an updated bill would extend benefits to those

32:17 who worked after 1972, many of whom have developed cancer as a result of radiation exposure."

32:30 Let me repeat that.

32:32 Senator Orrin Hatch said it was a moral imperative to provide justice to what are called post-71

32:39 miners.

32:42 And what does this bill offer to these Americans who have suffered for our country?

32:50 Nothing.

32:52 What does this bill offer to downwinders in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana?

33:00 Again, nothing.

33:04 And this exercise is an attempt to undermine the strong bipartisan coalition that passed

33:13 historic RECA legislation.

33:17 I hope no one misreads what's happening today.

33:25 There's a bipartisan coalition.

33:27 There is a bipartisan group of advocates across the country that is growing and growing.

33:33 There are more co-sponsors in the House.

33:36 The strongest vote that has ever taken place in the United States Senate has already passed

33:40 this bill.

33:43 Mr. President, let me be clear.

33:45 Our bipartisan coalition will work with anyone who wants to meaningfully help the victims

33:51 of all radiation and uranium exposure illnesses, including those that voted no when the Senate

33:58 passed the RECA to the House just a few months ago.

34:03 But we should help all of them, every one of these families that qualifies.

34:11 And by the way, just because a community is included as a downwind county, it doesn't

34:16 mean all the people living there benefit from the program.

34:20 They still have to fight and prove that they lived in this community for a number of years,

34:26 that their critical illnesses and cancers are those that science shows were due to this

34:32 exposure.

34:33 They have to fight.

34:34 It's not just given to them.

34:37 There's a whole process associated with the science.

34:39 And study after study continues to show how these families deserve this help.

34:44 As a matter of fact, in committee this week, we were having a hearing to help coal miners

34:50 in America.

34:51 And some of the experts that were in that room, I asked them about exposure with uranium

34:59 and the kind of cancers that we should expect.

35:02 And I asked them specifically about uranium mine workers.

35:06 And it wasn't surprising when that witness told us that the same uranium mine workers

35:11 who worked 1971 and before, and their cancers, it turns out that the uranium mine workers

35:18 that worked in 1972, they had the same cancer as well.

35:24 Senator Orrin Hatch, through his wisdom and his words, and in my conversations with this

35:29 great leader, said we have to fix these mistakes.

35:38 I'll close with this, Mr. President.

35:40 A few years ago, a Navajo elder, and I've shared this with our colleagues before, when

35:44 she spoke before the House of Representatives, she asked an important question to the panel

35:49 of members that were not supportive of Expanding RICA.

35:53 And it was simple.

35:56 Are you waiting for all of us to die so that the problem goes away?

36:04 With a simple vote in the House, taking up this Senate legislation that the Senate passed

36:18 with 69 votes authored by Senator Hawley, we can answer her question with a resounding

36:24 "no."

36:25 We're going to get help to families.

36:27 I yield back the floor.

36:31 Senator from Missouri.

36:32 I object.

36:33 The objection is heard.

36:34 Mr. President.

36:35 Senator from Utah.

36:36 Mr. President, we've got to keep our eye on the ball and our eye on the fact that the

36:42 legislation we're pending in the House is itself mire.

36:46 Now, I want to be clear.

36:48 In response to something, a comment made by the senior senator from Missouri, this is

36:55 not a new realization on my part.

36:57 This is not a new willingness on my part to acknowledge the legitimacy of the claims and

37:04 the suitability of the claims under RICA from Missouri and those from New Mexico.

37:11 It's not new at all.

37:13 In fact, it's not just in this Congress that I support that.

37:17 Two or three years ago in the previous Congress, I introduced legislation because after reviewing

37:22 the data, I concluded that the beneficiaries that there would be, need to be beneficiaries

37:29 in Missouri and those in New Mexico deserve to be added.

37:34 And so to be clear, what I'm offering here, yeah, it's not the whole thing that exists

37:40 in the bill that's now passed by the Senate and pending in the House but appears to be

37:46 mired with no hope of passage over there.

37:51 It's not the whole bill, but it's something.

37:54 And it takes care of our three states.

37:55 And it's not just because our three states are important and the others aren't.

37:58 No, it's because the claims arising in our three respective states are materially different

38:04 than those pending in jurisdictions.

38:06 In most of those other jurisdictions, the scientific data isn't of the same caliber,

38:11 drawing the same causal link between radiation exposure and liability on the part of the

38:18 U.S. government and ultimately the conditions at issue, the types of cancers and related

38:25 ailments that go along with it.

38:27 They're materially different.

38:29 And so until such time as the science catches up, I think it's going to continue to have

38:33 difficulty passing in the House.

38:35 I could be wrong.

38:36 That's how I see it.

38:37 That's what I've heard from everyone I trust as to diagnosing the ability of that bill

38:44 or lack thereof to pass in the House.

38:47 With respect to the post-1971 uranium miners and millers, there is a distinction here.

38:54 It's not a distinction that's necessarily impossible to overcome in every circumstance.

38:58 But the Congressional Research Service looked at this for us.

39:03 And we asked them to examine it.

39:05 It concluded that the post-1971 uranium millers and miners covered by the Hawley legislation

39:14 now pending in the House were from the commercial sector.

39:18 They were not doing this as contractors or as employees or otherwise as agents of the

39:24 United States government, but rather for private sector industry.

39:31 And in those circumstances, in many of those circumstances, if not most or all, those can

39:36 be addressed through tort law and/or through workers' compensation law.

39:40 Now for those that can't, there may well be an appropriate use of RICO.

39:46 But if we're going to start expanding this into purely private sector activities, that

39:51 changes the nature of this bill and I suspect will continue to make it more difficult to

39:55 pass in the House of Representatives.

39:59 So what we've got in Guam, the Marshall Islands, Idaho, Kentucky, Ohio, and Alaska, there may

40:04 well be worthy beneficiaries there as to whom there exists adequate scientific research

40:10 to justify the expansion of RICO and as to whom there is no other adequate recourse provided

40:16 for by some other government program or through state tort law, workers' compensation law,

40:21 or something else.

40:23 As to those, I'd be happy to expand RICO, but we've got to overcome those two issues.

40:27 Those haven't been overcome.

40:28 But they have been overcome as to Utah, as to New Mexico, and as to Missouri.

40:34 It's unfortunate that my friend and colleague from Missouri chose rather than to allow the

40:40 victims in his state and in New Mexico and the yet uncovered victims in the state of

40:46 Utah to be taken within the protective boundaries of RICO today.

40:52 We could have gotten this done today.

40:53 I'm confident we could have gotten it passed in the House right away.

40:56 He chose to object to it.

40:58 In other words, unless you can have all of his bill passed, including the parts that

41:02 are not scientifically backed, making it unpassable in the House, he's not going to let even

41:08 the victims in Missouri or the victims in New Mexico get covered.

41:12 That is most unfortunate.

41:14 We've got to deal with this.

41:15 I'll be back.

41:16 We have to get this done.

41:17 Thank you, Mr. President.

'Poisoned By Their Own Government': Josh Hawley Spars With Mike Lee Over Radiation Compensation Bill

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