New Mexico may finally be closer to recognition—and compensation—for the harm caused by nuclear testing more than 75 years ago.
The U.S. Senate has added language to a major tax and budget bill that would revive and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA.
That law, first passed in 1990, expired last year.
It provided financial help to people in western states who developed cancer and other serious illnesses after being exposed to radiation from atomic bomb testing and weapons production.
Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico has long pushed to include residents near the Trinity Test Site in southern New Mexico—people known as “downwinders”—who were never warned about the 1945 explosion that sent radioactive ash into their water, food, and air.
Heinrich said it’s a moral responsibility to extend help to all those who were harmed, and called the expansion long overdue.
The updated provision would also extend compensation to affected communities in states like Missouri and Tennessee.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley led the charge to include uranium exposure sites in the St. Louis area, where radioactive waste has caused long-term health problems.
Hawley said the new version of the bill would help more people at a lower cost than earlier proposals.
But the final outcome is still unclear. The measure faces a tight deadline as House Republicans weigh the costs.
Lawmakers have set July 4 as their target to finalize the broader tax package.
Adapted from an Associated Press report.