[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 85 (Friday, June 18, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7057-S7058]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TEXT OF AMENDMENTS--(Corrected Version)

  SA 3384. Mr. BOND (for himself, Mr. Harkin, and Mr. Talent) proposed 
an amendment to to the bill S. 2400, to authorize appropriations for 
fiscal year 2005 for military activities of the Department of Defense, 
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department 
of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for 
the Armed Services, and for other purposes; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle D of title XXXI, insert the 
     following:

     SEC. 3146. INCLUSION OF CERTAIN FORMER NUCLEAR WEAPONS 
                   PROGRAM WORKERS IN SPECIAL EXPOSURE COHORT 
                   UNDER THE ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS 
                   COMPENSATION PROGRAM.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Energy workers at the former Mallinkrodt facilities 
     (including the St. Louis downtown facility and the Weldon 
     Springs facility) were exposed to levels of radionuclides and 
     radioactive materials that were much greater than the current 
     maximum allowable Federal standards.
       (2) The Mallinkrodt workers at the St. Louis site were 
     exposed to excessive levels of airborne uranium dust relative 
     to the standards in effect during the time, and many workers 
     were exposed to 200 times the preferred levels of exposure.
       (3)(A) The chief safety officer for the Atomic Energy 
     Commission during the Mallinkrodt-St. Louis operations 
     described the facility as 1 of the 2 worst plants with 
     respect to worker exposures.
       (B) Workers were excreting in excess of a milligram of 
     uranium per day causing kidney damage.
       (C) A recent epidemiological study found excess levels of 
     nephritis and kidney cancer from inhalation of uranium dusts.
       (4) The Department of Energy has admitted that those 
     Mallinkrodt workers were subjected to risks and had their 
     health endangered as a result of working with these highly 
     radioactive materials.
       (5) The Department of Energy reported that workers at the 
     Weldon Springs feed materials plant handled plutonium and 
     recycled uranium, which are highly radioactive.
       (6) The National Institute of Occupational Safety and 
     Health admits that--
       (A) the operations at the St. Louis downtown site consisted 
     of intense periods of processing extremely high levels of 
     radionuclides; and
       (B) the Institute has virtually no personal monitoring data 
     for Mallinkrodt workers prior to 1948.
       (7) The National Institute of Occupational Safety and 
     Health has informed claimants and their survivors at those 3 
     Mallinkrodt sites that if they are not interviewed as a part 
     of the dose reconstruction process, it--
       (A) would hinder the ability of the Institute to conduct 
     dose reconstruction for the claimant; and
       (B) may result in a dose reconstruction that incompletely 
     or inaccurately estimates the radiation dose to which the 
     energy employee named in the claim had been exposed.
       (8) Energy workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (also 
     known as the Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant and 
     the Iowa Ordnance Plant) between 1947 and 1975 were exposed 
     to levels of radionuclides and radioactive material, 
     including enriched uranium, plutonium, tritium, and depleted 
     uranium, in addition to beryllium and photon radiation, that 
     are greater than the current maximum Federal standards for 
     exposure.
       (9) According to the National Institute of Occupational 
     Safety and Health--
       (A) between 1947 and 1975, no records, including bioassays 
     or air samples, have been located that indicate any 
     monitoring occurred of internal doses of radiation to which 
     workers described in paragraph (8) were exposed;
       (B) between 1947 and 1955, no records, including dosimetry 
     badges, have been located to indicate that any monitoring 
     occurred of the external doses of radiation to which such 
     workers were exposed;
       (C) between 1955 and 1962, records indicate that only 8 to 
     23 workers in a workforce of over 1,000 were monitored for 
     external radiation doses; and
       (D) between 1970 and 1975, the high point of screening at 
     the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, only 25 percent of the 
     workforce was screened for exposure to external radiation.
       (10) The Department of Health and Human Services published 
     the first notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the 
     Special Exposure Cohort on June 25, 2002, and the final rule 
     published on May 26, 2004.
       (11) Many of those former workers have died while waiting 
     for the proposed rule to be finalized, including some 
     claimants who were waiting for dose reconstruction to be 
     completed.
       (12) Because of the aforementioned reasons, including the 
     serious lack of records and the death of many potential 
     claimants, it is not feasible to conduct valid dose 
     reconstructions for the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant facility 
     or the Mallinkrodt facilities.
       (b) Inclusion of Certain Former Workers in Cohort.--Section 
     3621(14) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
     Compensation Program Act of 2000 (title XXXVI of the Floyd D. 
     Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
     2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106-398); 42 U.S.C. 
     7384l(14)) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D); 
     and
       (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new 
     subparagraph (C):
       ``(C) Subject to the provisions of section 3612A and 
     section 3146(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
     Fiscal Year 2005, the employee was so employed for a number 
     of work days aggregating at least 45 workdays at a facility 
     operated under contract to the Department of Energy by 
     Mallinkrodt Incorporated or its successors (including the St. 
     Louis downtown or `Destrehan' facility during any of calendar 
     years 1942 through 1958 and the Weldon Springs feed materials 
     plant facility during any of calendar years 1958 through 
     1966), or at a facility operated by the Department of Energy 
     or under contract by Mason & Hangar-Silas Mason Company at 
     the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (also known as the Burlington 
     Atomic Energy Commission Plant and the Iowa Ordnance Plant) 
     during any of the calendar years 1947 through 1975, and 
     during the employment--
       ``(i)(I) was monitored through the use of dosimetry badges 
     for exposure at the plant of the external parts of an 
     employee's body to radiation; or
       ``(II) was monitored through the use of bioassays, in vivo 
     monitoring, or breath samples for exposure at the plant to 
     internal radiation; or
       ``(ii) worked in a job that had exposures comparable to a 
     job that is monitored, or should have been monitored, under 
     standards of the Department of Energy in effect on the date 
     of enactment of this subparagraph through the use of 
     dosimetry badges for monitoring external radiation exposures, 
     or bioassays, in vivo monitoring, or breath samples for 
     internal radiation exposures, at a facility.''.
       (c) Funding of Compensation and Benefits.--(1) Such Act is 
     further amended by inserting after section 3612 the following 
     new section:

     ``SEC. 3612A. FUNDING FOR COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS FOR 
                   CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE SPECIAL EXPOSURE COHORT.

       ``(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is hereby 
     authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Labor for 
     each fiscal year after fiscal year 2004 such sums as may be 
     necessary for the provision of compensation and benefits 
     under the compensation program for members of the Special 
     Exposure Cohort described in section 3621(14)(C) in such 
     fiscal year.
       ``(b) Prohibition on Use for Administrative Costs.--(1) No 
     amount authorized to be appropriated by subsection (a) may be 
     utilized for purposes of carrying out the compensation 
     program for the members of the Special Exposure Cohort 
     referred to in that subsection or administering the amount 
     authorized to be appropriated by subsection (a).
       ``(2) Amounts for purposes described in paragraph (1) shall 
     be derived from amounts authorized to be appropriated by 
     section 3614(a).
       ``(c) Provision of Compensation and Benefits Subject to 
     Appropriations Acts.--The provision of compensation and 
     benefits under the compensation program for members of the 
     Special Exposure Cohort referred to in subsection (a) in any 
     fiscal year shall be subject to the availability of 
     appropriations for that purpose for such fiscal year and to 
     applicable provisions of appropriations Acts.''.
       (2) Section 3612(d) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7384e(d)) is 
     amended--
       (A) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``Subject''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(2) Amounts for the provision of compensation and 
     benefits under the compensation program for members of the 
     Special Exposure Cohort described in section 3621(14)(C) may 
     be derived from amounts authorized to be appropriated by 
     section 3612A(a).''.
       (d) Offset.--The total amount authorized to be appropriated 
     under subtitle A of this title is hereby reduced by 
     $61,000,000.
       (e) Certification.--Funds shall be available to pay claims 
     approved by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and 
     Health for a facility by reason of section 3621(14)(C) of the 
     Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 
     Act of 2000, as amended by subsection (b)(2), if the Director

[[Page S7058]]

     of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 
     certifies with respect to such facility each of the 
     following:
       (1) That no atomic weapons work or related work has been 
     conducted at such facility after 1976.
       (2) That fewer than 50 percent of the total number of 
     workers engaged in atomic weapons work or related work at 
     such facility were accurately monitored for exposure to 
     internal and external ionizing radiation during the term of 
     their employment.
       (3) That individual internal and external exposure records 
     for employees at such facility are not available, or the 
     exposure to radiation of at least 40 percent of the exposed 
     workers at such facility cannot be determined from the 
     individual internal and external exposure records that are 
     available.

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