Tom Udall: “I rise, Mr. Speaker, to introduce the Radiation Exposure Compensation Improvement Act of 1999. This bill seeks to…”

“I rise, Mr. Speaker, to introduce the Radiation Exposure Compensation Improvement Act of 1999. This bill seeks to compensate uranium miner victims for their losses. It also seeks to compensate the millers and transportation workers who received radiation exposure. The Federal Government was aware of the dangers and yet it allowed thousands of men to be exposed to high levels of radiation, causing death and serious injuries. The Congress has acted once before on this issue, but we did not go far enough. The bill moves us in the right direction. It moves us in a just direction. Mr. Speaker, for more than 50 years, the U.S. Government has ignored a group of its citizens who are most in need of its attention. For years, our government asked its citizens in Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico--many of whom lived on the Navajo Reservation--to serve their country by mining, milling, and transporting uranium. For 50 years, these citizens did what was asked of them. But slowly, Mr. Speaker, over the years they began to realize that their lives were changing. More and more of them were becoming sick. They were developing respiratory problems. They were developing cancer.”