Josh Hawley Cheers ‘Tremendous Day’ as Aid for Nuclear Radiation Survivors Included in Senate Big Beautiful Bill

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Friday cheered the inclusion in the Big Beautiful Bill of a provision that provides aid to those exposed to nuclear radiation near aboveground nuclear testing sites.

“This is a tremendous day for the people of Missouri and for nuclear radiation survivors across the country. I’m delighted to say that as of yesterday evening, when the Judiciary Committee announced its markup bill … that RECA reauthorization and expansion is included in the Big, Beautiful Bill. This will be the largest expansion of the RECA program in its history,” Hawley told reporters during a press conference call about the inclusion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) program in the Senate version of the Big Beautiful Bill.

RECA has long served to compensate Americans diagnosed with certain cancers if they were exposed to nuclear radiation near aboveground nuclear testing sites.

This includes Missouri, KSDK reported in 2024:

The exposure of Missourians to radioactive waste came from uranium processing in St. Louis for the World War II Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb.

While the presence of radioactive contamination in suburban St. Louis was known for years, an investigation by The Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press revealed in 2023 that the federal government and companies handling the waste were aware of the threat to the public long before informing residents.

The Show-Me State conservative has fought to reauthorize the program after the program’s compensation funds went dark one year ago due to congressional leadership’s inaction. Hawley has long been frustrated with Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) lack of interest in including the legislation in prior bills.

Hawley, however, credited Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), as well as Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) for working with him to get this legislation included in the Big Beautiful Bill.

A press release from Hawley’s office stated that the expanded RECA provision would:

• Add eligibility for RECA compensation for residents in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alaska, who were exposed to radiation and developed cancers
• Fully cover RECA-eligible “downwind” areas and on-site participants, including Nevada, Utah, and Arizona
• Cover all existing RECA uranium mine workers
• Add new “downwind” areas such as New Mexico, remaining counties in Utah, plus Mohave County in Arizona
• Increase benefits for atmospheric testing survivors to track inflation

“I think we are all just thrilled, but we are also not naïve. We are survivors of the Manhattan Project,” Dawn Chapman, an advocate for RECA, said during the press conference call. “We have been impacted very personally, and many of us have had extreme amounts of devastation in the form of illnesses in our families for generations because of this waste all across the nation.”