XPost: alt.social-security-disability, alt.war.nuclear, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: schilling@usmtf.org   
      
   The Republican megabill passed by Congress on Thursday contains an   
   extension and expansion of a program to compensate Americans who developed   
   cancer from radiation exposure linked to the U.S. nuclear weapons program.   
      
   The megabill revives a compensation program for victims who were exposed   
   to this radiation that lapsed last year.   
      
   It also expands it to new areas in states including Utah, Arizona, New   
   Mexico, Idaho and Missouri and raises compensation to $100,000 from either   
   $50,000 or $75,000, depending on the disease.   
      
   Mary Dickson, an activist who grew up in Salt Lake City and believes her   
   thyroid cancer came from living downwind of nuclear weapons testing in   
   Nevada, told The Hill she expects to be eligible for compensation for the   
   first time.   
      
   The government detonated 928 test bombs from 1951 to 1992 at the Nevada   
   site.   
      
   “The winds blew the fallout across the country. Utah was blanketed. So we   
   were exposed repeatedly to fallout,” Dickson said.   
      
   She said she was “crying” when the legislation passed the House, calling   
   it “an acknowledgement that our government did this to us.”   
      
   At the same time, Dickson said, “It’s not going to bring back all the   
   loved ones who have died,” including her sister, who died of lupus, an   
   autoimmune disease.   
      
   The inclusion marks a victory for lawmakers including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-   
   Mo.), who has pushed for the program’s expansion.   
      
   “To all the radiation survivors and nuclear veterans across the country:   
   WE DID IT,” Hawley said in a post on the social platform X.   
      
   Hawley was one of the bill’s key Senate holdouts, at first saying its cuts   
   to Medicaid went too far while its cuts to renewable energy subsidies did   
   not go far enough.   
      
   The radiation program he fought for, known as the Radiation Exposure   
   Compensation Act, had widespread Democratic support but was more   
   controversial among Republicans, some of whom expressed concerns about the   
   program’s cost.   
      
   Kyle Ann Sebastian, a spokesperson for the Union of Concerned Scientists,   
   said that the expansion was “an incredibly important step” but was a   
   compromise that left out other regions and states including Guam, Montana   
   and Colorado.   
      
   https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5384580-gop-megabill-   
   nuclear-weapons-radiation-victims-reca/   
      
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