The bipartisan-supported Radiation Exposure Compensation Act will expire today June 7 barring last minute reauthorization, and some lawmakers continue to voice their dissatisfaction with an extension that would not expand the number of nuclear workers who might qualify.
“I am disappointed that Speaker [Mike] Johnson sent the House home without taking action on RECA before the sunset date, putting the coverage and compensation of American families at risk,” Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) said in a Thursday news release. Lujan thanked bipartisan supporters of the compensation act, which currently only applies to nuclear workers in certain states, and pledged the fight for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) will continue.
On May 28, Rep. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) posted a statement on the social media platform X about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office informing him of plans to pass a RECA bill without including those affected by radiation in Missouri, New Mexico, and the Navajo Nation. “Total dereliction,” Hawley said in his statement on X. “No member from Missouri can possibly vote for this.”
The Act, first enacted in 1990 to extend benefits to those affected by contaminants of the first atomic bomb, was supposed to be signed by President Joe Biden (D) in March when it passed in the Senate. Biden signed on for a two-year extension in 2022.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) recently pushed for reauthorization and expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) at the markup of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. His amendment did not pass.
According to the Missouri Independent, Reps. Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) promised to oppose any version or extension of RECA that does not include Missouri. While the deadline looms for the Act to stay available for those who do qualify, lawmakers from Missouri are applying pressure so that any form of the bill includes constituents from St. Louis and the Navajo Nation.
“The United States government exposed these Americans to radiation as part of our national security efforts through World War II and the Cold War,” lawmakers including Bush and Hawley said in an April letter to Johnson urging him to take action on RECA.