BURSTSen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) vowed Tuesday to block any continuing resolution funding the government that only reauthorizes the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for parts of Utah.
In remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Hawley blasted rumors of a CR that will reauthorize RECA, a 30-year-old law that expired over the summer, but with coverage only for parts of Utah rather than a broader expansion co-sponsored by Hawley that passed the Senate by a two to one margin in the spring.
RECA provides one-time payments to certain Americans whose health was affected by wartime atomic testing and Cold War-era mining and refinement of nuclear materials.
The Senate-passed measure, co-sponsored by Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), would reauthorize the law with its eligibility expanded to Missouri, the site of wartime uranium mining, as well as downwind of the site of the 1945 Trinity atomic bomb test in Los Alamos, N.M.
Hawley’s remarks addressed reports of a reauthorization that would only reauthorize the law for parts of Utah, a smaller eligibility pool than the original measure.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) scheduled a vote on a similar measure earlier this year, concurrent with Utah Sens. Mike Lee (R) and Mitt Romney’s (R) introduction of a Senate version, but pulled it from the calendar before it could receive a vote.
“[A]t this last minute, for House leadership to be preparing . . . to shove down the throats of these victims across the country, a back-room deal that excludes almost all of them, is not only unacceptable, Mr. President, it is absolutely offensive," Hawley said.
Hawley has repeatedly pressured House leadership to bring the broader reauthorization measure to the floor, while Johnson’s office has expressed concerns about the cost of the full reauthorization and its chances of passing the GOP-controlled House after it passed the Senate with a minority of Republican votes.
The Hill has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.