Some Republican and Democratic senators are making another push to reauthorize a federal program that compensates victims of nuclear radiation, despite stiff resistance from Republican leadership.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle reintroduced their “Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act,” S. 243, on Friday. Advocates hope it will give new life to a bill that they say could bring justice for thousands of Americans poisoned by the government’s nuclear weapons testing during and after World War II.
But the bill is the same proposal that repeatedly hit snags in the last Congress because of disputes over its scope and price tag. Despite iterations of the measure passing the Senate twice, it never came up for a vote in the House.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) opposed the bill, which was estimated to cost $150 billion and was later pared down to about $50 billion. There was also resistance from members of Utah’s congressional delegation who were trying to advance a narrower, less expensive reauthorization.
