Hawley: NDAA faces ‘rough sledding’ without radiation compensation amendment

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) urged Congress Tuesday to include a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) expanding eligibility for victims of U.S. radiation testing, repeating a vow to block any NDAA that does not include it.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) does not cover several groups of Americans exposed to radiation, including those downwind from the Los Alamos, N.M., Trinity test of the atomic bomb and those exposed to waste in St. Louis’ Coldwater Creek. An amendment sponsored by Hawley and Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) passed the Senate with a filibuster-proof majority earlier this year.

Hawley, who first tweeted his pledge to block an NDAA without the provision last week, hosted affected Missouri activists at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday.

“If [the NDAA] emerges from a back room, and this provision is out, the defense bill is going to face tough sledding on the floor of the Senate,” Hawley told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “I am not going to vote to pay defense contractors hand over fist while the people of my state—and, frankly, across the country—are denied the compensation that they’re due.”

The amendment was not part of the House’s version of the NDAA. The chambers must develop a final version in conference before final passage, likely sometime in December.

A coalition of New Mexico and Missouri activists have long lobbied for the expansion of RECA to cover their communities, along with others in Idaho, Colorado, Montana and Guam. The initial law, passed in 1990, covers only people who were residents of Utah, Nevada and Arizona at the time of nuclear testing. The law provides payments of $50,000 to those eligible, and has paid out about $2.5 billion to 40,274 people since its passage, according to Justice Department statistics. 

The Hill has reached out to the offices of Schmitt, Lujan and Crapo to clarify whether they would back blocking the NDAA or join Hawley in the effort.