downwinders

Last summer, Congress allowed a program to compensate victims of Cold War-era radiation exposure to expire. Now, a new bipartisan effort to both revive and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is picking up steam.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is threatening to block attempts by House Republicans to only partially renew a law that compensates victims of radiation exposure.

The story of downwinders — the survivors of the world's first atomic blast and those who helped mine the uranium needed for the nation's arsenal — is little known. But that's changing as the documentary "First We Bombed New Mexico" racks up awards.

A top Democratic congressman says it will take a power shift to pass legislation to extend and expand a compensation program for people exposed to radiation following uranium mining and nuclear testing carried out by the federal government.

The Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act expired Friday after Congress failed to vote on a bipartisan bill that would have extended or expanded coverage.

The $1.2 trillion budget package passed by Congress Friday didn't include an extension for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The legislation compensates people who lived downwind from nuclear test sites and developed cancer as a result.

Leaders of the Navajo Nation gathered on Capitol Hill this week in support of expanded compensation for those sickened by Cold War radiation exposure.

The Democratic officials sent a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders, saying “it’s time for the federal government to give back to those who sacrificed so much.”

President Joe Biden said he’s open to granting assistance for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing, including in New Mexico, where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in 1945.

The U.S. Senate has endorsed a major expansion of a compensation program for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing and the mining of uranium during the Cold War.