[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 8374-8375]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF THE RAY RUIZ SPECIAL EXPOSURE COHORT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 8, 2008

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Madam Speaker, I have the honor of 
representing the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which, throughout its 
history, has played a critical role in keeping our Nation safe from the 
many threats we have faced and continue to face today. Many of the men 
and women who have worked there, and continue to work there, are 
patriots, doing some of the Nation's most important work while hidden 
from the spotlight.
  Tragically, many of these workers, unbeknownst to them, were exposed 
to cancer-causing doses of radiation during their employment. It has 
been a long, hard struggle for many of these employees to get 
compensation from the Federal Government, and many of them have passed 
away from the diseases they contracted in service to their country.
  One of these heroes was New Mexico State Representative Ray Ruiz. 
Representative Ruiz was a LANL employee diagnosed with cancer as a 
result of his work for the lab. Tomorrow, May 9, marks the 4 year 
anniversary of his passing. From the time of his diagnosis to the time 
of his passing, Representative Ruiz worked tirelessly for a Special 
Exposure Cohort (SEC) designation for LANL to ensure that the workers 
diagnosed with cancer did not have to face the same impossible burden 
of proof as he did--to convince the government that their work was 
responsible for their illness.
  Following his passing, Representative Ruiz's wife, Harriet, not only 
was elected to fill her husband's seat in the State Legislature, but 
carried on the work to secure SEC designation for the workers at LANL. 
While there was an initial, narrow SEC approved to cover a very small 
class of workers at the lab, the Ruiz's work, and the work of many 
others, came as close to realization as it had to date when on July 22, 
2007 a much broader SEC designation for LANL became effective.
  The SEC covers hundreds of workers and their survivors diagnosed with 
radiogenic cancers who worked at the lab from March 15, 1943 through 
December 31, 1975. While this was an incredibly important development, 
and one that was long overdue, there are many workers who should be 
included in this SEC, but are not.
  I know one worker, Madam Speaker, who suffers from radiogenic cancer, 
but just falls a few months short of the recently enacted SEC because 
he does not meet the requirements for number of days worked through 
1975. Extend the SEC further, however, and he would certainly qualify 
for compensation.
  This is particularly troubling considering NIOSH has already conceded 
that doses cannot be reconstructed for workers through 1975, but there 
are employees such as the one I just referred to who are denied 
compensation because of the cutoff date. NIOSH can no more reconstruct 
doses for employees of the lab in January 1976 than they can for 
employees of the lab in December of 1975. Yet post-1975 claimants are 
forced to undergo dose reconstruction during a period for which NIOSH 
concedes information is not available.
  That is why today I am introducing the Ray Ruiz Special Exposure 
Cohort Act to both honor the late Representative Ruiz, and to also help 
fully realize his and his wife's work to provide compensation to all 
employees who contracted illnesses from radiation exposure at LANL. 
This legislation would expand the current LANL SEC to cover claimants 
at the lab up to the present so that any worker diagnosed with the 
illnesses stipulated under the

[[Page 8375]]

current SEC and who meets a required 250 aggregated work days at LANL 
are covered. The important national security work being conducted at 
the lab did not stop on December 31, 1975, and sadly, neither did the 
harmful exposures to radiation that has caused many of these cancers. 
Post-1975 claimants have done the same work and been diagnosed with the 
same illnesses. These radiogenic cancers are not constrained by 
calendar years, and nor should be the compensation to employees and 
their families.
  Madam Speaker, claimants and their families have made great strides 
in achieving some small measure of justice from the Federal Government. 
There are many, however, who continue to fight the battle not only with 
their illnesses, but with the government simultaneously. The EEOICPA 
program was designed to put the burden of proof on the government, not 
on the claimant. Unfortunately, that has not been the way the program 
is operating. The SEC designation for LANL was an important step 
towards rectifying this situation, but the Ray Ruiz Special Exposure 
Cohort Act will help provide much deserved compensation to the many 
other cold war heroes who have tragically fallen through the cracks.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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