[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 146 (Thursday, September 19, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6201-S6202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Uranium Workers

  Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, this country's success in the Second World 
War and in the Cold War was driven by our nuclear program. It was made 
possible by the Manhattan Project and the follow-on projects that made 
our nuclear program the envy of the world and the most powerful part of 
our military arsenal. And do you know what that was made possible by? 
It was made possible by the work and the sacrifices of everyday 
Americans in States like New Mexico and Arizona and, yes, my home State 
of Missouri, where we processed uranium for the Federal Government.
  These workers, these Americans who risked their lives and who risked 
their health in order to help their country build a program that helped 
us win wars--they deserve our thanks, not mockery. That is why finally, 
after decades, the Senate finally, in March of this year, passed my 
legislation with Senator Lujan by a huge bipartisan margin--nearly 70 
votes--to compensate those good Americans who gave their health, who 
gave their energy, and, yes, in some cases gave their lives to 
sustaining our nuclear effort.
  Here is what happened in all too many places. In places like St. 
Louis, MO, and St. Charles, MO, when the uranium processing stopped, 
the government didn't clean up their mess. No, the government dumped 
the leftover uranium into public landfills, dumped it into public 
streams, dumped it into our waterways and into our soil. And now it is 
everywhere. Now it is underneath homes. Now it is next to our

[[Page S6202]]

schools. Now it is in the water and in the air in places across the 
region. Numerous, multiple--at this point, countless--members of the 
State of Missouri, residents of St. Louis and St. Charles, have gotten 
sick, have died. We have some of the highest rates of cancer in the 
Nation in St. Louis, the highest rates of breast cancer. Why is that? 
Because there is so much nuclear radiation in the area that is still 
not cleaned up because the government never cleaned it up.
  That is why the Senate acted in March by that big bipartisan margin 
to force a cleanup and to compensate those Americans who have gotten 
sick, those who have lost family members because of the government's 
inability to clean up their own mess, because of the government's 
nuclear program that they never properly paid for in terms of 
compensation to the Americans who made it possible.
  Now that bill is in the House awaiting action, and even as we sit 
here today, it continues to be attacked by those who just think that if 
you want to be compensated for the damage the U.S. Government caused to 
you, you are somehow greedy and unthankful and ungrateful and 
undeserving of any help or recognition or thanks from this country.
  Nothing could be further from the truth, but I read today in the Wall 
Street Journal yet another attack on these good Americans--an attack 
that appears to have the support of Members of Congress, which I find 
absolutely unbelievable.
  I don't know how anybody, why anybody would want to attack the 
victims of nuclear radiation. And they are not just victims; they are 
heroes. They are the people who made possible our victories in the 
Second World War and the Cold War. But to read the Wall Street 
Journal's op-ed page today, you would think that if you are a uranium 
worker, a mine worker, that you ought to just be quiet and go off into 
the corner and die. That is what they say. If you are a uranium worker, 
then you don't deserve any compensation for the fact that while you 
were down in the mines making possible your government's victory in 
war, you were also being exposed to nuclear radiation that made you 
sick. To listen to this op-ed tell the story, you should just be 
thankful that you got to live as long as you did, and if your family 
has to suffer the consequences of your illness, of your cancer, if you 
have lost loved ones because of their exposure to nuclear radiation, 
well, too bad, according to the Wall Street Journal. Too bad. Just shut 
up and take it.
  I can't believe anybody would treat nuclear radiation victims this 
way, but to read this story, you would think that nobody who lived in a 
uranium processing site, like in Missouri, who worked in a uranium 
mine, who had lived downwind of nuclear tests, like in New Mexico and 
Arizona and Utah, that nobody who has been exposed to radiation by 
their own government should get anything. That is the essential premise 
of what the Journal writes today.
  What I find potentially most disturbing is their references to 
Senators and Members of Congress who appear to agree to that. I mean, I 
just invite the Members of Congress here, if you agree with that, if 
you don't want to compensate nuclear radiation victims from your own 
State, by all means, come here to this floor. Come and tell us. Tell 
the world. If you don't support what the Senate did, if you want to try 
to kill it in the House, tell us. Put your name to it. Don't hide 
behind the Wall Street Journal; come and put your name to it.
  This is a time to stand up and be counted because, I will tell you 
what, the victims of this radiation, our heroes--they have waited for 
decades. They have borne the cost for decades. They deserve some 
justice. They are coming to Capitol Hill, oh yeah. They are going to be 
here. They will be here next week. They are coming, and they want to 
see some progress. They are coming, and they want to see results. And I 
would invite anybody who is opposed to them, who is opposed to their 
compensation, who is opposed to justice for them, to come and explain 
it to their face. Come to this floor. Come to this floor.
  Now, I know there are some in my own party who would like to say that 
47 percent of the American public are just freeloaders and don't 
deserve anything, and we ought to treat these people like them. I 
disagree with all of them. It is ludicrous. It is ridiculous. And I 
don't know why any member of a State that has nuclear radiation victims 
would want to try to block the effort to compensate them. I don't 
understand it at all. I don't get it.
  And I will tell you what, we will not stop fighting, we will not stop 
working until every nuclear radiation victim who has given their life 
and health for the support of this Nation is thanked and compensated. 
We are almost there. This body has done it. This body has done it. I 
believe there is real progress in the House. I hope we can act soon. 
But it is time now for Members of Congress to stand up and be counted, 
and it is time to stand together for justice for our heroes who have 
made possible this country's success, who have made possible this 
country's victories, and who have shown us what true devotion to 
country looks like.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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