New Mexico’s nuclear downwinders have a week to convince Congress on reparations

A nuclear bomb test described in the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer last year exposed southern New Mexicans to radiation that lingered for generations leading to cancers and other health problems. The blast, set off in 1945 in a then-reported unpopulated desert region, affected those living in rural communities like Carrizozo and Tularosa, and decades later the descendants of the victims of the Trinity Site lobbied to see the federal government provide reparations. Reparation would come in payments to offset medical bills for conditions tied to the test under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) passed in 1990. The RECA program offers single payments to nuclear workers in northern New Mexico affected by uranium mining and residents near the Nevada Test Site known as “downwinders” in several states. But New Mexico has downwinders of its own, and advocates argued the RECA program should be expanded to include more states. A bill was passed by the Senate March 7, sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to do so, offering payments to an expanded list of states including New Mexico, and increasing the amount available per person from $50,000 to $100,000. Amid consideration of Hawley’s bill, Republicans in the U.S. House signaled they would...