Press Releases
Senate Adopts Hawley Legislation Providing Funding for Victims of STL Region Nuclear Contamination
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) legislation to compensate victims of government-caused nuclear contamination in the greater St. Louis area was adopted by the U.S. Senate. The legislation took the form of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Senator Hawley's legislation was co-sponsored by Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). "For fifty years, fifty years the federal government has put into the water, into the soil, into the air of St. Louis and surrounding regions radioactive nuclear material,"said Senator Hawley. "They have not told the people of St. Louis. They have not compensated the people of St. Louis. They have not helped the people of St. Louis." He continued, "Mr. President, it...
Hawley, Blumenthal Hold Hearing On Principles For Regulating Artificial Intelligence
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, held a hearing on the guiding principles for regulating artificial intelligence (A.I.) moving forward. Senator Hawley questioned leaders in the A.I. space—including Dario Amodei, Cofounder and CEO of Anthropic, Yoshua Bengio, Professor at the Université de Montréal, and Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley—on the role of Big Tech in smaller A.I. development firms, the importance of safeguarding our A.I. supply chains, and the issue of offshoring of A.I.-related jobs. "For my part, I have expressed my own sense of what our priorities ought to be when it comes to...
Hawley Demands DOE Improve Nuclear Contamination Cleanup Efforts at Weldon Spring Site
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm, urging the Department conduct additional testing for radioactive contamination at a site in St. Charles County, Mo. After a review of the Weldon Spring site in 2021, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources offered an extensive critique of the DOE's cleanup and monitoring efforts at that location. These concerns were recently made public. "On May 27, 2021, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources submitted extensive comments on the Department’s Weldon Spring Site Draft Sixth Five-Year Review," wrote Senator Hawley. "That review [...] aimed to analyze the state of contamination at the Weldon Spring site. In those comments, the Missouri...
Hawley, Gillibrand to Introduce Landmark Bill Banning Stock Trading and Ownership by Congress, Executive Branch Officials and Their Families
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will introduce the bipartisan Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act. The legislation would create stringent stock trading bans and disclosure requirements for Congress, senior executive branch officials, and their spouses and dependents. The bill bans stock trading, stock ownership, and blind trusts; imposes heavy penalties for executive branch stock trading; requires reporting of federal benefits; creates additional transparency in financial disclosure reports; and increases transaction report penalties under the original STOCK Act. "Politicians and civil servants shouldn’t spend their time day-trading and trying to make a profit at the expense of the American...
Hawley Urges Senate Hearing on Government-Caused Nuclear Contamination in the St. Louis Region
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), urging him to convene a committee hearing to discuss the government-caused nuclear contamination of the St. Louis area as well as the steps that involved government agencies are taking to remediate the area. “Last week, new reports provided stunning information about radioactive contamination in the St. Louis area resulting from the Manhattan Project. These reports reveal that contamination in the St. Louis area may prove to be among the most significant government-caused environmental disasters in our nation’s history," wrote Senator Hawley. "What’s worse, it’s now clear that the Federal government knew about the contamination but failed...
Hawley Urges Action on Law Requiring ‘Duck Boat’ Safety Regulations
Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan calling for the law requiring new safety standards for DUKW amphibious vehicles, also known as “duck boats,” to be properly implemented. New standards are intended to help prevent future tragedies following the 2018 accident on Table Rock Lake that claimed the lives of 17 people. "When I joined the Senate, one of the first bills I introduced was the Duck Boat Safety Enhancement Act of 2020. This legislation aimed to prevent similar accidents in the future by requiring amphibious vehicles meet minimum buoyancy requirements, weather preparedness standards, and new canopy regulations," wrote Senator Hawley. "It is critically important that we ensure the safety of...
NEW: Senator Hawley Demands USACE, DOE, and EPA Answer for St. Louis Contamination
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent separate letters to United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Lieutenant General Scott Spellmon, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan demanding answers on nuclear contamination in the St. Louis region. Senator Hawley's letters followed a disturbing new report of a decades-long effort to downplay and conceal the risks of radioactive contamination in St. Louis, Missouri. The report verified that the federal government and companies responsible for Manhattan Project nuclear testing in the St. Louis area, "were aware of health risks, spills, improperly stored contaminants and other problems but often ignored them." On...
Hawley Visits St. Louis Area Impacted by Radioactive Waste, Vows Justice for Community
Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) traveled to the St. Louis region where he visited the Jana Elementary School and Coldwater Creek, areas both affected by decades-old nuclear waste. During a rally with advocates from the community, Senator Hawley called on the federal government to authorize a fund for St. Louis residents who fell victim to radioactive contamination due to bureaucratic negligence and vowed to do everything in his power to bring the community justice. “Now we have got to put in place this fund to make whole every person who has been ill and who has suffered any kind of negative consequence from this," said Senator Hawley. [...] "The federal government has done this before for other victims of their nuclear programs." “Your government asked...
Hawley Statement on New Reporting about Radioactive Waste in St. Louis
After new reporting about ongoing radioactive waste problems in St. Louis, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) released the following statement: Years of stonewalling, half truths and downright lies to the people of St. Louis from their government. This is why I jammed through the Senate a new law to clean up Jana Elementary - or rebuild it. No more excuses https://t.co/l1nrJxxYKe — Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 12, 2023 Background In April, Senator Hawley’s legislation passed the Senate, mandating the clean up of Jana Elementary School and radioactive waste testing to be performed at the surrounding buildings in the Hazelwood School District. Biden Energy Secretary Granholm pledged to support the bill. In March, Senator Hawley...
Hawley Announces New Legislation to Compensate Victims of Nuclear Waste in St. Louis Area
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced new legislation to create a fund for the victims of radioactive contamination in the St. Louis region. His announcement followed a disturbing new report that details how the federal government and companies responsible for Manhattan Project waste in the region “were aware of health risks, spills, improperly stored contaminants and other problems but often ignored them.” “The people of St. Louis have borne the burden of [the Manhattan Project] — and now it’s time for their government to make it right. What needs to happen is this: The federal government needs to pay the medical bills for any St. Louis resident who has contracted cancer or an autoimmune virus or a genetic disorder because of exposure to radioactive...