Congress is poised to let longstanding benefits for victims of U.S. nuclear testing expire if lawmakers cannot reach an agreement in the days ahead.
Compensation available for victims across multiple states under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), first enacted in 1990, will run out after this week unless Congress extends them.
However, Republicans are divided on whether to simply extend the benefits or expand them to additional victims — holding up the passage of either a narrower or broader bill.
House leadership scheduled a vote on the narrow version of the bill before pulling it late last week amid pushback. The skinnier extension met opposition from lawmakers from places like Missouri, where radiation victims would remain uncovered under the legislation. A broader version passed by the Senate earlier this year, meanwhile, would expand coverage to Missouri and a number of other states — offering benefits to many victims for the first time.
Asked whether the GOP planned to take up a vote on the issue, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House’s No. 2 Republican, said lawmakers had not reached an agreement.
“You saw some of my colleagues express their concern about what was left out and there’s not a consensus on where to go from here,” Scalise told The Hill on Tuesday.
“There are a lot of issues like that, that we’re still working through,” he added.
But if lawmakers don’t take up legislation to preserve or expand the benefits, new applicants will no longer be able to access compensation. Existing beneficiaries would not be cut off if the law sunsets, as it authorizes one-time payments.
The Justice Department’s website states that under current law, it will only accept claims until June 10.
Advocates have also warned that critical cancer screenings for impacted communities could cease if the law is allowed to expire.
Capitol Hill negotiations have largely centered on two proposals: a “clean” extension, which would simply extend the program in its current form, and an expansion that would make additional victims eligible for funds.
Lawmakers who want a broader expansion are calling for RECA benefits to be extended for six years and to be expanded to states including Missouri and those downwind of the first-ever detonation of an atomic bomb, the 1945 Trinity test in New Mexico. Such a proposal passed the Senate by a 2-to-1 margin in March, but has not been taken up by the House.
Supporters of a narrower measure have raised concerns about the cost of expansion.
House leadership’s now-retracted decision to schedule a vote on the smaller bill, meanwhile, sparked fierce backlash from backers of the broader one, including cosponsor Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and several members of the Missouri House delegation, many of whom made clear they would not support a bill that did not expand eligibility to Missourians as the expansion— of which Hawley is a sponsor — does.
“I don’t think [Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)] had the votes,” Hawley told The Hill of the decision to pull the vote. “He wanted to do it on suspension, that needs two-thirds … he needed every Republican vote plus what a third of the Democrats.”
In the meantime, Hawley noted, multiple members of Missouri’s House delegation alone had made clear the smaller bill was a non-starter, including Reps. Ann Wagner (R) and Cori Bush (D).
House members who back the broader, Senate-passed bill told The Hill they still hope for a breakthrough in the time that remains.
“We have to keep mobilizing the way that we are, working with those groups, working in a bipartisan manner,” Bush told The Hill.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), sponsor of the House version of the bill that passed the Senate, said she remains “optimistic” the bill can pass, but emphasized that the ball is in Johnson’s court.
“We have the votes to pass it on the House floor, so we can get it done as long as Speaker Johnson lets us vote on the bill from the Senate,” she told The Hill.
Over the weekend, Johnson met with advocates, who also said they felt hopeful a solution could be reached.
Dawn Chapman, a leader of the group Just Moms STL, was part of a delegation of RECA expansion proponents who met with Johnson. Chapman’s organization, based in the St. Louis area, represents one of the groups not covered by the current law: those exposed to radiation in the form of contamination by uranium production in Missouri during World War II.
She said that at the meeting, set up through Wagner’s office, their reception from the speaker was “warm” and “he knew exactly who we were,” suggesting he was amenable to their perspective.
However, Chapman noted, Johnson had only been able to talk with them briefly after inclement weather delayed him.
“I don’t think this is a bad guy, I think if we could get in front of this guy we might have a chance with this program but I don’t know how to do that,” she said. She expressed frustration that members of Congress are set to depart this week to visit Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion.
Chapman said it’s a bitter irony that a World War II tribute might allow the expiration of a program that compensates Americans who were also harmed while helping the war effort.
“For us and the other communities, we’re perfectly ready to let it expire Friday and keep fighting Monday,” she added. “If they let this expire Friday I think you’re going to see a much angrier side to us.”