CALL TO ACTION - Updated
On July 27, 2023, the US Senate passed the RECA amendments as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would add the Downwinders of New Mexico and the Post 71 uranium miners/workers to the fund for the first time ever. In doing so, Senators Ben Ray Lujan (D) New Mexico, Mike Crapo (R) Idaho, and Josh Hawley (R) Missouri were able to work in a bipartisan fashion to pass this nonpartisan bill that will also add the States of Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Guam and all of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah for the first time. The bill will deliver justice to people who’ve waited as long as 78 years as is the case in New Mexico.
The Senate NDAA and the House NDAA will now go through the reconciliation process. The House bill does not currently have the RECA amendments included.
As of the week of November 19th, 2023 -
As Congress contemplates how they will reconcile the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and whether it will contain the amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) that would extend RECA to the people of New Mexico for the first time we need to gather up support from key Republican leaders. Please take time now to send Senator McConnell a personal message by going to Contact Form - U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (senate.gov) and asking him to please keep the RECA amendments in the NDAA. The Senate has already passed the measure by a vote of 61 to 37. Please also reach out to Speaker Johnson at 202-225-4000 and deliver the same message to him. Make certain to let him know that the RECA amendments must remain in the NDAA and that it is if utmost importance to you. The House version of the NDAA doesn’t currently have the RECA amendments added. All of the New Mexico Congressional delegation supports this effort.
We heard some good news lately that all four leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees were in support of the RECA amendments remaining in the NDAA. In the Senate, those members are Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Lindsay Graham and in the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler.
We’ve received notice that the NDAA will be resolved in the next few weeks. We need everyone to join with us in this final push for passage of the RECA amendments.
More contact information for Speaker Johnson and Leader McConnell:
Speaker Johnson
Garrett.fultz@mail.house.gov
Brittan.specht@mail.house.gov
Ruth.ward@mail.house.gov
Josh.hodges@mail.house.gov
Leader McConnell
Michael_fragoso@mcconnell.senate.gov (goes by Mike)
Tiffany_ge@mcconnell.senate.gov
Sharon_soderstrom@mcconnell.senate.gov
Rep. Scalise is the House ranking member. Please send a quick email to him to encourage him to support the RECA amendments as part of the NDAA. Below is a contact for Rep. Scalise.
Jonathan.hefner@mail.house.gov
It is imperative that everyone across the country reach out to their members of the House Find Your Representative | house.gov and ask them to support adding the RECA amendments to the NDAA to mirror what was passed in the Senate.
We encourage everyone to reach out to:
Senator Lujan at 202-224-6621 Home - Senator Ben Ray Luján (senate.gov)
Senator Hawley 202-224-6154 Josh Hawley | United States Senator for Missouri (senate.gov),
Senator Schumer 202-224-6542 https://www.schumer.senate.gov/
Jim Jordan 202-225-2676 https://jordan.house.gov/
Ask them to make certain the reconciled NDAA contains the RECA amendments as passed in the Senate with no changes.
Members of the House can be part of the winning process that is now underway to pass the RECA amendments or they can be forever known as those who blocked justice for the people of the American West who were so horribly damaged as our government mined uranium and conducted above ground atomic/nuclear tests beginning with Trinity and subsequently at the Nevada Test Site.
Let them know that New Mexico is a state of patriots and plays a significant role in the nation’s nuclear defense via our multiple military installations. No other state had more volunteers in World II than New Mexico. We are the state of Native American Code Talkers and veterans of the Bataan Death March. We were the unwitting test subjects for Trinity, the first atomic bomb ever and, we are asked to be the storage location of the nation’s nuclear waste.
In 33 the years that RECA has been in existence only $2.5 billion has been paid to some who qualify. That is less than a single percentage point of the $50 billion paid annually, over the same period, to maintain our nuclear arsenal; in other words, to put our bombs to bed a night. We ask that the nation not turn its back, yet again, on a state that gives so much. Please pass RECA, intact, within the NDAA.
For more information, visit our RECA/Our Cause page.
