At the State of the Union Thursday evening there will be two special guests of New Mexico Congressional members whose presence is designed to get federal compensation for those injured by nuclear weapons production.
A years-long effort to expand the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act got very close to passing late last year, but it was stripped out of a defense bill at the last minute.
It was a blow to those who lived near the Trinity Site where the first atomic bomb was detonated and to people who worked in uranium mines and mills after 1971. Many of them have struggled with cancer and other health issues.
Those working in uranium mines and mills after 1971 were not included in the original compensation act. Neither were any of the people living near Trinity nor their descendants.
But a standalone measure to expand and reauthorize RECA passed the Senate on Thursday. It's good news for the special guests of U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández and U.S. Sen. Ben Rey Luján, both Democrats, who have impacted by the lack of compensation as their special guests to the State of the Union address.
Luján's guest is Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. Leger Fernández invited Phil Harrison. He is Diné and a former miner, just like his father, who died from lung cancer at 43. His friend, also a former miner, just had a double lung transplant.
"We have people like that with no medical benefits. So if this passes, it's going to help a lot of people," he said of the potential RECA expansion. "It's very critical and very important that the United States Government should pay attention to us."
Leger Fernández says this week on the floor of the U.S. House she offered an award to the film “Oppenheimer” for “most incomplete story” for ignoring the plight of people like Harrison.
"We want Congress to write that end of the story and the end of this story should be we did the right thing by the people who were harmed by the bomb," she said.
U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, (R-Idaho) is bringing the head of the Idaho Downwinders and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is also bringing an advocate for victims of nuclear contamination. The two senators worked with Lujan and others on the RECA expansion.
The legislation must still pass the U.S. House of Representatives. Luján spoke on the Senate floor following the vote.
“Now, I urge Speaker [Mike] Johnson to put this bipartisan bill on the House floor for a vote. Every day that Congress does not act is another day that the federal government has failed these victims.”
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the RECA measure passed the Senate.
