Pete Domenici: “I rise today, with Senator Hatch, to introduce the Radiation Exposure Compensation Technical Amendments and Refinement…”

“I rise today, with Senator Hatch, to introduce the Radiation Exposure Compensation Technical Amendments and Refinement Act. These technical amendments are needed because the RECA amendments we passed in 2000 inadvertently eliminated some claimants previously eligible for compensation and made it more difficult for other claimants to prove eligibility. These technical amendments are very important, but perhaps more importantly this bill provides mandatory funding for the now-bankrupt RECA Trust Fund. For over a year now, eligible claimants have been receiving nothing more than a five-line IOU from the Justice Department. This is an injustice I never imagined when I authored the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990--an injustice that can and must be rectified through this bill. RECA was designed to compensate our nation's uranium mine workers who became afflicted with debilitating and too often deadly radiation-related diseases. These men helped build our nuclear arsenal--the arsenal that is, at least in part, responsible for ending the cold war. We must not let their sacrifice go unanswered. These miners and their families lived under tough conditions. Some lived in one-room houses located as close as 200 feet from the mine shafts. Their children played near the mines and their families drank underground water that exposed them to radiation. These miners faced long, uncomfortable days many feet underground.”