U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today gave remarks on the Senate floor, urging the House of Representatives to pass his legislation to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) which has already passed the Senate twice.
Senator Hawley’s speech comes after a new Wall Street Journal opinion piece this week falsely claimed victims of Manhattan Project-era testing in various parts of the country were “never harmed” and are undeserving of government compensation.
Click here or above to watch the full remarks.
“This country’s success in the second world war and in the Cold War was driven by our nuclear program. […] It was made possible by the work and the sacrifices of everyday Americans in states like New Mexico and Arizona, and, yes, my home state of Missouri where we processed uranium for the government,” Senator Hawley explained.
“I read today in The Wall Street Journal yet another attack on these good Americans, an attack that appears to have the support of member of Congress […] I don’t know how anybody—why anybody—would want to attack victims of nuclear radiation,” said Senator Hawley. “And they’re not just victims, Mr. President. They’re heroes.”
Senator Hawley went on to announce that he will host nuclear-radiation advocates on Capitol Hill next week in a renewed push to pass RECA in the House.
Background
Senator Hawley has been the leading voice in the fight to secure just compensation for radiation victims in Missouri—and across the nation.
In March, the Senate passed—for the second time—Senator Hawley’s legislation to reauthorize and expand RECA by a strong bipartisan vote of 69-30.
Days before that vote, he sent a letter to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers General Scott Spellmon and Colonel Andy Pannier, blasting the Corps for its deliberate concealment of cleanup efforts in the St. Louis area after new disturbing reports detail more radioactive contamination in residents’ homes.
Senator Hawley brought Dawn Chapman—co-founder of the grassroots advocacy group “Just Moms” in St. Louis and longtime advocate for victims of nuclear contamination in the region—as his guest to the 2024 State of the Union address.
In February, Senator Hawley sent a letter to his Republican colleagues in the Senate, urging them to reauthorize RECA.
He has also delivered remarks at the Senate numerous times this year and last, blasting Senate leadership for continuing to ignore Americans who have been poisoned by the federal government and instead shoveling money to foreign wars.
Following its first Senate passage in July of 2023, Senator Hawley’s RECA reauthorization was later stripped from that year’s NDAA by congressional leadership.