[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 17 (Tuesday, January 30, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR DOWNWINDERS

  (Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, last Saturday marked the National 
Day of Remembrance for Downwinders.
  The movie ``Oppenheimer'' reminded the Nation that New Mexico is 
where the government first detonated an atomic bomb. The story that 
remains untold and the justice that remains unsolved is the explosion's 
impact on nearby communities.
  That bomb's radioactive ash showered nearby communities, communities 
who the government failed to warn or evacuate before the Trinity test.
  Little girls danced around catching the ash on their tongues, 
thinking it was summer snow. Those little girls, like thousands of New 
Mexicans, developed cancer and deadly diseases because of the Trinity 
test.
  Outrageously, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act compensated 
others but not New Mexican downwinders.
  All downwinders deserve justice. As we remember the downwinders and 
miners who have already passed and those who still suffer, we must pass 
the RECA Amendments Act to include them, too.

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