Hawley, Lujan reintroduce RECA reauthorization bill

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) have reintroduced legislation to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) after a similar bill cleared the Senate but never received a House vote in the last Congress.

The 30-year-old law authorized payments to those with health issues relating to 20th-century nuclear testing as well as uranium mining and refinement of nuclear material. Hawley and Luján’s bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), would have extended the law’s authorization and expanded the states whose residents are eligible.

The measure passed by a 2-to-1 margin in the Senate last spring and then-President Biden vowed to sign it if it reached his desk. However, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) did not give the bill a full House vote in the 118th Congress, citing concerns about costs and whether it had the votes among House Republicans. The original RECA’s authorization expired over the summer.

"The time to reauthorize RECA is now. The Senate has done this twice before and must do it again. For far too long, Missourians and others across America have suffered without compensation from their government. It is vital that we unite to pass this legislation now, and that the President sign it into law,” Hawley said in a statement.

“Despite having passed RECA legislation twice through the Senate with broad bipartisan support, and securing the support of the previous administration, I was disheartened that Speaker Johnson refused a vote on RECA to help victims,” Luján said in a statement. “This Congress, I am proud to partner with Senator Hawley again to extend and expand RECA. RECA is a bipartisan priority and I am hopeful that we will once again get it through the Senate and hope the Speaker commits to getting victims the compensation they are owed.”

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