WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) released the following statement on the 80thanniversary of the Trinity Test:
“For far too many New Mexicans, including Navajo uranium miners and families, today’s anniversary of the Trinity Test is a day marked by suffering, pain, and injustice. It serves as a solemn reminder of our government’s failure, for eight long decades, to recognize and support the families who lived downwind of that first nuclear explosion and who have borne its devastating consequences every day since.
“For my entire time in Congress, I’ve been honored to fight alongside Trinity Downwinders and uranium workers to finally include all the New Mexicans exposed to radiation from the bomb’s detonation in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This year, we delivered long-overdue justice by expanding this legislation to cover downwinders across the entire state of New Mexico, increase benefits, and finally expand eligibility for uranium workers to include core drillers.”
Background:
Heinrich has reintroduced legislation to extend and expand RECA since his first Senate term, starting in 2013.
This month, Heinrich and the N.M. Delegation secured RECA reauthorization and expanded the legislation to include all downwinders having worked at any site in the entire state of New Mexico. Notably, the law now allows for combined work histories for uranium workers who previously did not meet eligibility requirements based on their work in only one category of uranium work. Now, employment history across multiple positions--uranium miner, uranium miller, core driller, and ore transporter--all qualify to be combined when determining eligibility. Additionally, the benefit for downwinders increased from $50,000 to $100,000 and for onsite participants from $75,000 to $100,000.
Last month, Heinrich marked one-year since RECA expired and demanded Congress to reauthorize and expand RECA.
In January, Heinrich joined U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along with U.S. Senators Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) to reintroduce their Radiation Exposure Compensation (RECA) Reauthorization Act to compensate Americans exposed to radiation by government nuclear programs.
Despite the Senate passing this bill last Congress, the House of Representatives failed to pass RECA reauthorization before its expiration deadline in June 2024.
Last fall, Heinrich joined Luján and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), and advocates and survivors who traveled all the way across the country from New Mexico for a press conference calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on aSenate-passed bill that would strengthen RECA.
In March 2024, Heinrich delivered remarks on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to reauthorize and expand RECA. Later that day, Heinrich secured Senate passage of bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and expand RECA to compensate individuals exposed to radiation while working in uranium mines or living downwind from atomic weapons tests.