House Speaker Mike Johnson called on to pass nuclear weapons reparations for New Mexicans

Reparations for New Mexicans impacted by nuclear weapons testing could be held up in the GOP-led House of Representatives after the U.S. Senate passed a bill in March to provide payments to those suffering health impacts tied to the tests.The U.S.’ first nuclear bomb was tested in New Mexico in 1945 at the Trinity Site near Alamogordo, setting off a generational wave of cancers and other health impacts for nearby residents. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) passed in 1990 to fund federal payments to those who could prove their health was impacted by weapons testing but did not include reparations for New Mexicans near the Trinity Site.That could change thanks to legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan to expand RECA to include New Mexico residents near the test, known as “downwinders.” The law currently provides payments to downwinders of the Nevada Test Site in multiple states.After passing the Senate, supporters of the bill urged the U.S. House and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to take up and pass the measure before the law’s funding sunsets in about a month on June 7.Lujan, along with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and several other members of the chamber including GOP senators...