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Floor Speech
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Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, 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 Manhattan Project and the follow-on projects that made our nuclear program the envy of the world and the most powerful part of our military arsenal. And do you know what that was made possible by? 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 Federal Government.
These workers, these Americans who risked their lives and who risked their health in order to help their country build a program that helped us win wars--they deserve our thanks, not mockery. That is why finally, after decades, the Senate finally, in March of this year, passed my legislation with Senator Lujan by a huge bipartisan margin--nearly 70 votes--to compensate those good Americans who gave their health, who gave their energy, and, yes, in some cases gave their lives to sustaining our nuclear effort.
Here is what happened in all too many places. In places like St. Louis, MO, and St. Charles, MO, when the uranium processing stopped, the government didn't clean up their mess. No, the government dumped the leftover uranium into public landfills, dumped it into public streams, dumped it into our waterways and into our soil. And now it is everywhere. Now it is underneath homes. Now it is next to our schools. Now it is in the water and in the air in places across the region. Numerous, multiple--at this point, countless--members of the State of Missouri, residents of St. Louis and St. Charles, have gotten sick, have died. We have some of the highest rates of cancer in the Nation in St. Louis, the highest rates of breast cancer. Why is that? Because there is so much nuclear radiation in the area that is still not cleaned up because the government never cleaned it up.
That is why the Senate acted in March by that big bipartisan margin to force a cleanup and to compensate those Americans who have gotten sick, those who have lost family members because of the government's inability to clean up their own mess, because of the government's nuclear program that they never properly paid for in terms of compensation to the Americans who made it possible.
Now that bill is in the House awaiting action, and even as we sit here today, it continues to be attacked by those who just think that if you want to be compensated for the damage the U.S. Government caused to you, you are somehow greedy and unthankful and ungrateful and undeserving of any help or recognition or thanks from this country.
Nothing could be further from the truth, but I read today in the Wall Street Journal yet another attack on these good Americans--an attack that appears to have the support of Members of Congress, which I find absolutely unbelievable.
I don't know how anybody, why anybody would want to attack the victims of nuclear radiation. And they are not just victims; they are heroes. They are the people who made possible our victories in the Second World War and the Cold War. But to read the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page today, you would think that if you are a uranium worker, a mine worker, that you ought to just be quiet and go off into the corner and die. That is what they say. If you are a uranium worker, then you don't deserve any compensation for the fact that while you were down in the mines making possible your government's victory in war, you were also being exposed to nuclear radiation that made you sick. To listen to this op-ed tell the story, you should just be thankful that you got to live as long as you did, and if your family has to suffer the consequences of your illness, of your cancer, if you have lost loved ones because of their exposure to nuclear radiation, well, too bad, according to the Wall Street Journal. Too bad. Just shut up and take it.
I can't believe anybody would treat nuclear radiation victims this way, but to read this story, you would think that nobody who lived in a uranium processing site, like in Missouri, who worked in a uranium mine, who had lived downwind of nuclear tests, like in New Mexico and Arizona and Utah, that nobody who has been exposed to radiation by their own government should get anything. That is the essential premise of what the Journal writes today.
What I find potentially most disturbing is their references to Senators and Members of Congress who appear to agree to that. I mean, I just invite the Members of Congress here, if you agree with that, if you don't want to compensate nuclear radiation victims from your own State, by all means, come here to this floor. Come and tell us. Tell the world. If you don't support what the Senate did, if you want to try to kill it in the House, tell us. Put your name to it. Don't hide behind the Wall Street Journal; come and put your name to it.
This is a time to stand up and be counted because, I will tell you what, the victims of this radiation, our heroes--they have waited for decades. They have borne the cost for decades. They deserve some justice. They are coming to Capitol Hill, oh yeah. They are going to be here. They will be here next week. They are coming, and they want to see some progress. They are coming, and they want to see results. And I would invite anybody who is opposed to them, who is opposed to their compensation, who is opposed to justice for them, to come and explain it to their face. Come to this floor. Come to this floor.
Now, I know there are some in my own party who would like to say that 47 percent of the American public are just freeloaders and don't deserve anything, and we ought to treat these people like them. I disagree with all of them. It is ludicrous. It is ridiculous. And I don't know why any member of a State that has nuclear radiation victims would want to try to block the effort to compensate them. I don't understand it at all. I don't get it.
And I will tell you what, we will not stop fighting, we will not stop working until every nuclear radiation victim who has given their life and health for the support of this Nation is thanked and compensated. We are almost there. This body has done it. This body has done it. I believe there is real progress in the House. I hope we can act soon. But it is time now for Members of Congress to stand up and be counted, and it is time to stand together for justice for our heroes who have made possible this country's success, who have made possible this country's victories, and who have shown us what true devotion to country looks like.
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