Political Quotes

“on June 10, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published an editorial about the program my friend from Kentucky seeks to fix. As the editorial noted, this program was created to compensate our cold war veterans who are sick from their work at nuclear facilities around the country, including the Nevada Test Site, during the cold war. These brave men and women were not told that they were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation and other toxic substances. In fact, for years the Department of Energy knew the deadly effects of these substances but still resisted workers' attempts to seek compensation for their work-related illnesses. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, which began in 2000, was created to remedy the decades of stonewalling and deception by the DOE. When we worked to create this program in 2000, we put part of it under the auspices of the Department of Energy. We intended to provide relief to sick workers and their widows who are strapped with medical bills. As of April, only one worker in Washington State had received any compensation through the DOE program. Three more workers have now received compensation. More than 24,000 workers have filed claims with the Department of Energy. After 4 years and about $74 million worth of work, exactly four of these workers have received compensation. The Review-Journal calls the DOE's program a ``boondoggle.'' I couldn't agree more.”