Summary
WASHINGTON -- Uranium mill workers -- many of them Utahns -- sickened by radioactivity from the nation's atomic weapons program in the 1950s and 1960s will now be compensated, thanks to a rare weekend congressional session that saw a plethora of bills pass before members of Congress race home to resume their political campaigns.
The funding, pushed by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, made its way into the Defense Authorization Act, which contains a provision that claims by uranium miners, millers and transporters will now be fully funded by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). The amount of the funding increase was not immediately available.See the full content of this document
Extract
Congress Expands Downwind Funding
The Department of Justice, which oversees the program, testified before the Judiciary Committee, which Hatch chairs, that the trust fund to pay claims will soon run out of money and claimants will be issued IOUs unless additional funding was found.
"This transfer is good for everyone," ...See the full content of this document
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