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Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after introducing the Downwinders Compensation Act of 2015 which will ensure partial restitution to victims who now have cancer and other serious medical issues as a result of being exposed to nuclear fallout and radiation during government testing:
“While important to ensuring the protection of the homeland, previous government weapons testing should have been conducted in a manner that minimized citizens’ exposure to cancer-causing carcinogens to the greatest extent possible. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Countless Americans have developed serious illnesses as a result of fallout from government atmospheric nuclear tests.
“Radiation exposure continues to negatively affect many Arizonans and last year I heard gut wrenching testimony from individuals who now have cancer or have lost loved ones due to federal government negligence. For Congress to deny these victims the right to even file a claim is both inconsistent and careless, while violating both the apology and the promise made by the original Act. These families have suffered enough, it’s now up to Congress to correct this injustice.”
Background:
The full text of the Downwinders Compensation Act can be found HERE.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced similar legislation in the Senate today.
From 1945 to 1962 the United States government conducted nearly 200 atmospheric weapons development tests as part of our nation’s Cold War security strategy during an era when other hostile nations were also engaged in nuclear weapons testing and proliferation. These tests exposed thousands of innocent Americans to cancer-causing ionized radiation from nuclear fallout.
When the injuries were discovered, Congress subsequently provided an apology on behalf of the nation and passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, or RECA, to establish a trust fund for partial restitution to individuals—commonly referred to as “Downwinders”—who have contracted certain cancers and other serious diseases that can be directly attributed to the radiation exposure from the nuclear weapons testing.
While the Act which established RECA was well-intended, there are serious boundary flaws that have prevented otherwise eligible Americans from receiving justice and the compensation to which they are entitled. Americans that reside in counties in close proximity to where the testing occurred are excluded from this program for no logical scientific reason, including people that reside in Mohave County, Arizona and Clark County, Nevada. This bill corrects this injustice and will provide compensation to qualifying individuals not included in the 1990 Act that deserve restitution. New claimants under this act are subject to the same burden of proof as all other claimants currently covered.
Last year, Congressman Gosar held a field hearing in Kingman, Arizona in regard to the Downwinders of Mohave County, Arizona. At the hearing, Congressman Gosar heard a range of testimony, from expert reviews on the law and medicine to the personal stories of actual Downwinders. Witnesses included a Congressional Research Service (CRS) analyst, Mohave County officials, the Chairwoman of the Hualapai Tribe and several local residents who either developed radiation-induced cancer themselves or have family members who died from radiation-induced cancer. Read more HERE.
The four original cosponsors that joined Congressman Gosar in introducing this legislation include: Mark Amodei (R-NV-02), Trent Franks (R-AZ-08), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-01) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ-09).
The bill is fully paid for and includes a bipartisan offset.
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