[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 117 (Wednesday, September 27, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H8286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INJURED COLD WAR VETERANS DESERVE ASSISTANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise during this unusual period of the day 
when we should be busy at work moving our appropriation bills on this 
floor in the full light of the public to talk and plead about an issue 
that should be resolved through the appropriations process and the 
defense authorization bill that is moving both through this body and 
the other body, and it concerns Americans who worked, who fought on 
behalf of this country's Cold War efforts, working in the nuclear 
industry, the beryllium industry, the gaseous diffusion industry, and 
who are now dying or have died because of illnesses contracted as a 
part of their working life.
  We have tried to bring that issue to bear in the current bills being 
worked on in the back rooms here somewhere. We have been told that 
those provisions have now been dropped from the bill.
  I am here this afternoon to say, pay attention to what I am saying, 
because these Americans are veterans, just like those who fought on 
foreign soil or defended us here at home.
  It is terrible to be a Member of Congress and to have someone walk 
into your office on a breathing machine and say to you, ``Congresswoman 
Kaptur, I worked in the beryllium industry, and I am dying, and I 
cannot get workman's compensation, I cannot get decent health benefits 
for myself, and what is going to happen to my family after my life is 
over?''
  I stand here today in memory of Galen Lemke, just one of hundreds of 
people, patriotic Americans, who served, worked every day, and produced 
the weaponry that now has made America the premier military and 
economic power on the Earth. I would plead with the Defense conferees 
to listen to them, to care for their lives and their families, and to 
do what is right, what is just.
  The Department of Energy, under the leadership of Secretary Bill 
Richardson, has produced a piece of legislation that covers most, but 
not all, of the workers who worked in the nuclear industry, the gaseous 
diffusion industry, and the beryllium industry.
  We have a bipartisan effort here in the House comprised of people 
like the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) of Ohio, the gentleman 
from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), 
the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall), myself, and, in the other 
body, several Members, including two Senators from my home state of 
Ohio, who are very supportive of this legislation.
  There is absolutely no reason that this Congress cannot help these 
Americans, who are truly deserving of our respect, and, behind that 
respect, placing the kind of assistance they need in the most difficult 
moments of their lives.
  If the American people were sitting here, they would vote on this 100 
percent. They would not leave out one of those families. Yet we are 
poised to move bills through here which cast them aside. That is truly 
wrong, when we know it is a discrete number of workers, we know who 
they are, we know how they have suffered, and we have this time, this 
year, in the beginning of the year 2000, to put the unfinished business 
of the 20th century behind us and to take care of these families, as we 
properly should.
  So I would say to the defense conferees, to the conferees on the 
appropriations bill, there is no better time than now. Do what is 
right, do what is in the interest of America, and treat these families 
like the true American patriots and veterans that they are. Include 
these beryllium workers, gaseous diffusion workers and nuclear workers 
in a compensation bill that is no different than any other Federal 
compensation program that exists.
  I would say to Secretary Richardson, thank you; and I would say to 
the Secretary of Defense, where are you? Where are you lobbying on 
behalf of people who helped this country win the Cold War?
  Please conferees, do not do this to Americans who truly deserve the 
support of the American people.

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