Leaders of the Navajo Nation gathered on Capitol Hill this week in support of expanded compensation for those sickened by Cold War radiation exposure.
Speaker Crystalyne Curley and other advocates and members of Congress rallied in Washington D.C. and urged lawmakers to pass a key extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
It’s set to expire next year and provides payments to residents and uranium industry workers who were exposed during nuclear testing and while mining to manufacture weapons.
Many Navajo tribal members worked in uranium mines and have since suffered cancers and other negative health effects but many communities in the Southwest weren’t covered under the original bill.
The U.S. Senate in July passed an expansion and extension of the program until 2040 but it’s awaiting consideration in the House.