[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 46 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H2184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         WORKER COMPENSATION FOR NATIONAL LABORATORY EMPLOYEES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fossella). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the 
issue of worker compensation. Today, the administration, Secretary 
Richardson, President Clinton, and Vice President Gore announced a 
worker compensation program for workers at the national laboratories 
all across this country.
  This has been a very sad chapter in the history of the United States. 
Workers have worked at these nuclear establishments and plants for many 
years, and they have been injured as a result, many of them have been 
injured, the Department now acknowledges, as a result of occupational 
exposures. The Department has decided to turn over a new leaf, and I 
applaud their position on that; and I rise today to put a piece of 
legislation in the hopper to deal with this situation.
  In New Mexico, about 3 weeks ago, I attended a hearing in my district 
where workers came forward. They talked about how patriotic they were; 
they talked about how they were serving their country for many, many 
years and, as a result of their work, they believed they came down with 
cancers, with beryllium disease, with asbestosis, with a variety of 
other illnesses. They were very heart-wrenching stories.
  Today, I introduce a piece of legislation that will be comprehensive 
legislation. It will deal with all of these injuries that occurred and 
that were talked about at Los Alamos. It is comprehensive in the sense 
that it will cover beryllium, it will cover radiation, it will cover 
asbestos, and it will cover chemicals that these workers were exposed 
to.
  The legislation provides that the workers will be able to come 
forward, very similar to the Workmen's Compensation program that is in 
place for the Federal Government. They will be able to demonstrate 
their exposure and what the illness was.
  My legislation will also provide that during the 180-day period, 
while their claim is pending, that they will be able to get health care 
for free at the nearest Veterans Hospital.
  And the burden is on the Government, because many of these 
individuals came forward and talked about how they had worked their 
whole life, and they knew there were exposures; but then, at the end of 
their period of time, they asked for their records and there were no 
records. Their records were lost. So under those circumstances, we 
clearly have to put the burden on the Government.
  So I would urge my colleagues today, while my bill is specifically 
directed to New Mexico, I know there are many other colleagues around 
the country that have this same situation in their district. There are 
Democrats and Republicans. All areas of the United States are 
represented. So I think this is a great issue for us to join together 
in a bipartisan way and craft a solution to this problem at the 
national level.
  The reason I think it is so important is that these workers were true 
patriots. They were people that loved their country and cared about 
their country and worked for it at a very crucial time for us, so we 
need now to do something for them.

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