NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Navajo Nation tribal leaders are the latest to call on Congress to reinstate the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Navajo President Buu Nygren, Navajo National Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, and dozens of others marched in Washington on Tuesday urging House Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on the bill.
RECA used to provide financial aid to people suffering from adverse health effects caused by living near nuclear testing sites and uranium mines. An effort was made to expand the bill’s coverage of diseases related to nuclear testing to cover “down-winders” who live near New Mexico’s radioactive sites but that work failed back in June when the bill expired.
“Our miners, back post-1977 all the way to the 1990s, they went into those mines not knowing what they were going into,” said Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.
“We urge Congress to move swiftly and to hear the people’s voices today. We’re here with heavy hearts,” said Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council Crystalyne Curley.
New Mexico’s entire Congressional delegation, along with a Missouri Republican senator, also called for a new vote on RECA.
