Jim Matheson: “I just wanted to stand up and say how pleased I am that the supplemental does include an effort to compensate folks that…”

“I just wanted to stand up and say how pleased I am that the supplemental does include an effort to compensate folks that have been victims of radiation exposure. Years ago Congress admitted that there was fault and admitted we need to compensate victims. Yet we have not put up the money. There are people in my region of the country that have letters from the Government right now, IOUs saying, ``Well, yeah, you deserve compensation, but we don't have the money.'' We have come up now with some money. I am a little disappointed that of the $84 million we were looking for, only $20 million is in this supplemental and now we have got to do something about next year's budget as well to accommodate that, but it is a step in the right direction. We are going to keep fighting for this. We want to make sure that the people who were inappropriately exposed to harm, and the government has admitted culpability, we are going to make sure those people are adequately compensated. I am pleased that this supplemental takes a step in that direction.”