Advocates Fight For Those Sickened By US Nuclear Testing Program on Capitol Hill from sands Watch Video

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✓ Published: 17-May-2024

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Advocates Fight For Those , Sickened By US Nuclear Testing , Program on Capitol Hill.<br/>On June 7, the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation <br/>Act (RECA) program is set to expire, ending a lifeline <br/>for families sickened by the country's nuclear testing. .<br/>On June 7, the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation <br/>Act (RECA) program is set to expire, ending a lifeline <br/>for families sickened by the country's nuclear testing. .<br/>NPR reports that advocates have gathered <br/>on Capitol Hill to fight for so-called atomic <br/>veterans and save the RECA program.<br/>Over the past year, multiple bipartisan <br/>bills were approved by the Senate to <br/>reauthorize and expand the program. .<br/>Those bills stalled out in the House, <br/>due to some Republicans objecting <br/>to the cost of the program. .<br/>According to sponsors of the bills, those concerns <br/>were addressed by reducing the initial 2023 estimate <br/>of $143 billion down to between $50 and $60 billion. .<br/>NPR reports that RECA has provided payments up to <br/>$75,000 to those sickened by the nuclear testing <br/>program, totaling $2.7 billion to over 400,000 recipients. .<br/>One of the groups fighting to have <br/>the program extended is the <br/>Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. .<br/>The group works to raise awareness of illnesses <br/>linked to Trinity, the government's code word for <br/>the first nuclear bomb test, which took place in 1945.<br/>Martinez White, a member of the group, <br/>says fallout from those tests resulted in at <br/>least six cases of cancer in her family of ten. .<br/>I would often go home for <br/>funerals and everybody in <br/>Tularosa was dying of cancer. <br/>We knew something was very weird. , Martinez White, Tularosa Basin <br/>Downwinders Consortium member, via NPR.<br/>There's no industry in the whole <br/>Tularosa Basin but for White Sands <br/>Missile Range, where the <br/>Trinity bomb was detonated, Martinez White, Tularosa Basin <br/>Downwinders Consortium member, via NPR