A Message From Tina

Tina in Washington DC

As a new administration takes control in Washington, we remain as determined as ever to get the expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) passed. We believe the day will come when everything aligns just perfectly and RECA is expanded to include all the people across New Mexico and beyond who were damaged by our Country’s quest for nuclear superiority. This long struggle for Justice will have an end and our goals will be realized. We must remain diligent and hopeful and look for every opportunity to educate people so that this important history is not forgotten or repeated.

The damage that was done to the people of New Mexico is not just an eighty-year-old history of development and testing of atomic bombs and uranium mining. It is a current history too. The justice we seek should be important to everyone today because we’re in a new nuclear arms race. Testing is likely to begin again which will have consequences and we’ve yet to deal with the negative effects of the last testing. The US is also dedicated to spending trillions of dollars to make new plutonium pits that we don’t need and will likely never use. As we enter this new nuclear arms race, we should remember that the past is a good predictor of the future. No one has ever come back to assume responsibility for the irreparable harm that was done to the people and the environment during the last arms race.

As a reminder, in the last Congress we were very close to passage of the RECA expansion. We attained a vote of 69 to 30 in the US Senate which never happens these days. We also received a Statement of Support from President Biden. No President has ever recognized us in this way in the 20 years that we’ve been fighting for justice.

However, one man Speaker Mike Johnson stood in the way of the RECA expansion. He would not allow a vote on the House Floor of the bipartisan bill that was cosponsored by both Democrats and Republicans. This took place despite the fact that we had the votes to pass the RECA expansion. We were told that Speaker Johnson’s office was receiving a RECA support call from people all across the Country every 2 minutes at the end of 2024. We need to keep this kind of pressure on him so that he knows we will never give up.

Is there hope for RECA today? Yes, and that hope is in the fact that all of our New Mexico Congressional Delegation remains supportive and will continue to do all that they can to see that RECA is expanded. We also have unwavering support from Senator Hawley. His wife is from New Mexico and her family has a lived experience with being overexposed to radiation. A staffer to Senator Hawley recently said to us that they believe 2025 is the year RECA will be passed. Senator Hawley has been working with key members of the Trump Cabinet to educate them on the damage that has been done to American citizens across the Country as a result of the development and testing of nuclear devices, of uranium mining and of the dumping of nuclear waste.

We also have the pledged support of Leader Jeffries. At the end of 2024 members of the TBDC were able to meet with Leader Jeffries while he was in New Mexico. He listened with great intention to our histories and recognized the injustice of what we’ve been left to deal with. He pledged his full support.

We believe that with the strong support from Senator’s Lujan, Hawley, Heinrich and others along with the support of Representatives Leger Fernandez, Stansbury, Vasquez and others we will be successful.

We need your support to make this happen. Please join with us today and make calls to Speakers Johnson’s office regularly. We have an opportunity to get the RECA expansion added to the reconciliation bill that will soon be under consideration. The number to call is 202-225-4000. You can also contact Representative Jim Jordan’s office at 202-225-6906. As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, he will ultimately determine what is included in the reconciliation. Tell them who you are and why the RECA bill is important to you, your family and your community. Ask them make certain the RECA expansion is included in the reconciliation bill.

Lastly, please join us on July 16th in the beautiful village of Tularosa for our many events scheduled to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the detonation of the Trinity bomb. While I know of no one that lost their life on that fateful day, it was the beginning of the end for tens of thousands of people including our babies. These people were our precious, loved family members, and we will never stop telling their history and will always honor their memory.