Biden signals support to compensate downwinders

Aug. 9—BELEN — President Joe Biden expressed support Wednesday for extending federal radiation exposure compensation to New Mexicans who suffered adverse health effects because of fallout from nuclear testing.

"I'm prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of," the president said after U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, in his speech before Biden's, made a push for compensation for the so-called downwinders, or people who were affected by nuclear fallout from the Trinity test.

The New Mexicans in the Tularosa area who were affected by the first atomic bomb test in 1945 — many of them say they suffer from cancers generations later — have so far not been eligible for federal compensation.

Luján and others pushed to add an amendment to this year's National Defense Authorization Act to make them eligible for the same federal compensation programs as Americans affected by some other nuclear tests, and it was added to the version of the bill that has passed the Senate.

Luján called on making sure that amendment stays in the final bill.

"We were able to pass an amendment that included the amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act," said Luján, who was among the people who spoke ahead of the president at an event to showcase the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law a year ago.

"The film Oppenheimer has been getting a lot of attention," added Lujan, referring to the biographical thriller about the physicist who led the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos.

"That first bomb that was tested was right here in New Mexican soil just south of where we are, and those families did not get the help that they deserve. They were left out of the original legislation," Luján continued. "So, Mr. President, we're fighting with everything that we have, with members of the Senate and the House from across the country, in hopes that we can keep this in the National Defense Authorization Act and make sure these families are seen and get the help that they deserve."

The U.S. Senate voted 61-37 to expand the list of those who are eligible for funds under the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in an amendment to this year's military spending bill.

RECA allows eligible people to apply for one-time payments if they were affected by radioactive fallout from nuclear testing or suffered radiation exposure through uranium mining before 1971. People also can apply for compensation if a loved one died from radiation exposure.

Aside from Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, Republican Sens. Mike Crapo from Idaho and Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt from Missouri sponsored the amendment.

The amendment, and the rest of the bill, now must go to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which already has drafted its own proposed National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 with no new provisions for downwinders.

The amendment would cover New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Guam as well as the remaining ineligible areas in Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

From 1945 to the early 1960s, the federal government conducted about 215 above-ground nuclear tests. That included the famous Trinity Test, in which the first atomic bomb was detonated in Southern New Mexico.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.