-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. LUJAN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act yet again.
I appreciate this opportunity because as I have learned, every opportunity we get to talk about the families, to share the stories of the families who are dying of cancer and suffering--for the Federal Government has ignored them for decades--we are able to earn one more vote, one more Member who will stand courageously in that well and say: We can do the right thing, and we can ensure that we are going to provide support and coverage for these families.
I come to the floor today to share the same concerns as my friend Senator Hawley. I have proudly been working on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act since I was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2009. Prior to that, my predecessor in the Senate and in the House, Tom Udall, was working on this policy and these issues. I have had the honor of speaking with the late Senator Orrin Hatch--may he rest in peace--about the faults that were made when this legislation was passed in 1990 and amended in 2000, of the families that were left out.
After we hear about this approach, we get a chance to talk a little bit more about another idea, and I hope to be able to share some quotes from Senator Orrin Hatch about how we should be working together.
But today, Mr. President, for this portion, I want to share the story of Mary Dickson. Mary grew up in the fallout of nuclear testing. She lived downwind of the Nevada test site where an estimated 100 nuclear tests were detonated above ground.
She has said that all around these testing sites, Utah families were going about their daily lives, drinking milk from the local dairies, eating vegetables from the gardens that they tended to. Heck, the kids would even mix sugar with snow so they could pretend it was ice cream, she wrote.
In my home State of New Mexico, where the first bomb was tested at the Trinity Test Site just miles from the town of Ruidoso and Tularosa, kids at summer camp not only heard the terrifying sounds of the bomb but saw the white ash falling down from the sky. Those kids thought it was snow as well. They went out and played in it because there was no warning. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Government did something worse. They lied to these families and said it was just a drop of munitions. These kids were playing in radioactive waste. These kids ate radioactive waste.
Some of these kids are now adults fighting for their lives. Far too many of these adults face cancer diagnoses. Many face a diagnosis that was similar to their parents or their siblings or their grandparents or their neighbors. Mary faced her diagnosis at 30. Others gave birth to babies with birth defects. Far too many died far too young.
The Senator from Utah and I agree that the people of Utah deserve justice. I and others, like Senator Hawley, agree that those impacted in other States deserve justice as well. Today's exercise is not the answer.
The Senate has already acted twice--once to amend the National Defense Authorization Act with Democrats and Republicans, 61 votes strong. The same people that once said that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act could not pass through the legislative branch--through the House or through the Senate--they were taken aback that there was this enormous vote and success only a few months later to see another bill authored by Senator Hawley that I was proud to work with him on with the advocates. The advocates should be at the table as we are having these deliberations. Where are their voices?
Sixty-nine votes said yes. Now it sits in the U.S. House of Representatives, where recently even Speaker Johnson's office commented on taking action to make sure that this program will not die. I appreciate that.
I certainly hope that the families I have had the honor of meeting with, that I know Senator Hawley has met with, that all Senators share and agree that we should take further action on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act meet with them as well.
I hope the Senators start with Mary Dickson. Learn her stories. Invite her in. Get to know her, her advocacy, her plight because by learning her story, we are going to help countless others all across America. I strongly urge my colleagues to stand with all the victims.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source