Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has achieved a significant victory by adding provisions to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) in President Trump's budget proposal, and he is now urging Democrats to refrain from opposing these provisions.
Hawley emphasized the bipartisan backing for RECA and is calling on Democrats not to contest its inclusion in the Senate version of the Trump tax and spending bill.
“Democrats need to promptly decide whether to remove RECA from the settlement bill (‘using bird rules’). They should only consider keeping it if they don't challenge it,” Hawley posted on social media platform X.
Just last week, Hawley announced that GOP leaders had agreed to incorporate the most significant expansion of the radiation exposure compensation program within the law initially signed by President Trump.
This expansion broadens the eligibility for those affected by radioactive exposure in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alaska, and fully compensates individuals impacted in “downwind” regions, including Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
“For decades, the federal government has irresponsibly disposed of nuclear waste in Missouri’s neighborhoods and misled the public about it. These survivors have endangered their health for national security, originating from the Manhattan Project,” Hawley stated.
Hawley is urging the Democrats who supported the RECA expansion to convince their leadership not to attempt to strip these provisions from the budget settlement by challenging the senator.
Democrats are contesting several elements within the broader package, claiming they violate the Senate Bird Rule, which governs budget-related measures that are shielded from filibustering.
They have already succeeded in removing multiple provisions, including a fund cap that would dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a cornerstone of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
The RECA expansion has garnered substantial bipartisan support in the Senate.
In January, Hawley teamed up with Senator Eric Schmidt (R-Mo.) and Democrats Martin Heinrich (NM), Ben Ray Lujan (NM), and Mark Kelly (AZ) to reintroduce the Reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to provide compensation to Americans affected by radiation from the government's nuclear initiatives.
Heinrich remarked at that time, “It’s long overdue for Congress to pass an expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, particularly regarding the Tularosa Basin, where communities and families endured the consequences of the fallout from the 1945 Trinity Test.”
[The Trinity Test, conducted in July 1945 at the Alamogordo bombing range in New Mexico, marked the first nuclear weapon explosion as part of the Manhattan Project.]
When Lujan joined Hawley to reintroduce the legislation in January, he stated, “Individuals affected by nuclear testing, downwind radiation, and uranium mining are still waiting for their overdue compensation.”
On Friday, Democratic aides declined to comment on whether the party would specifically challenge the RECA provisions defended by Hawley. Sources indicated that Senate Democratic staff are undertaking a thorough review of the policy elements within the package.
Source: thehill.com