May 15, 2024

Congresswoman Bush Turns Up the Pressure on Speaker Johnson, Urges RECA be Brought to the Floor

 

Without action from House, RECA will expires in 23 days

Washington, D.C. (May 15, 2024)—With the June 7th expiration date of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) looming, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) is dialing up the pressure for House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring legislation extending and expanding RECA to the House floor for a vote. After passing through the Senate over a month ago with bipartisan support, RECA is currently sitting with Speaker Johnson, waiting to be brought up for a vote on the House floor. Given the stalling, Congresswoman Bush requested an urgent meeting with Speaker Johnson today to further push for immediate action on RECA before it expires. A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

“We are in a race against time. Speaker Johnson needs to propel the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act into motion before it expires next month,” said Congresswoman Bush. “Despite bipartisan backing and Senate passage, this vital and life-altering legislation is gathering dust in the Speaker’s office. People in St. Louis have not been included in RECA before and deserve to be compensated just like any other victims. Missourians, burdened by the legacy of the Manhattan Project, can’t afford further delay in being compensated. Speaker Johnson, the time for action is now. Extend and expand RECA.”

In addition to outreach to Speaker Johnson, Congresswoman Bush sent a personal letter to all of her House colleagues on Monday to help drum up additional support. In her letter, she raised that with RECA claimants existing in all 50 states Congress should be united in pushing for the extension and expansion of RECA. A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

Earlier this month, Congresswoman Bush joined Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and colleagues in a bicameral letter urging House Speaker Mike Johnson to immediately act to pass RECA. Last month,  she joined advocates and impacted community members to urge the U.S. House of Representatives to take immediate action on RECA. In March 2024, Congresswoman Bush delivered a speech on the House Floor on the Exclusion of RECA from the spending bill.

Congresswoman Bush has been a longtime advocate for the cleanup of Manhattan Project waste. Examples of some actions that Congresswoman Bush has put forward include:

  • In October 2023, Congresswoman Bush leveraged her position on the House Oversight Committee to secure a Government Accountability Office report detailing the effects of Manhattan Project waste in St. Louis.
    • In June 2022, initiated a federal review with the Government Accountability Office for the cleanup of radioactive contamination of Coldwater Creek in St. Louis County.
  • In August 2023, Congresswoman Bush met one-on-one with Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at the Weldon Spring Site Interpretative Center to discuss radioactive waste across St. Louis left decades ago by the Manhattan Project.
  • In April 2023, Congresswoman Bush partnered with Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to introduce the bipartisan, bicameral Justice for Jana Elementary Act of 2023,which would require the cleanup of Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Missouri located in the Congresswoman’s district.
  • In July 2022, Congresswoman Bush secured an amendment through the House-passed appropriations bill that transferred $500,000 to study the impacts of low-level radiation on human health and the environment.
  • In May 2022, Congresswoman Bush introduced the Coldwater Creek Signage Act which would require signage to be posted along Coldwater Creek informing residents of the dangers of radioactive waste exposure.
  • Congresswoman Bush voted in favor of H.R. 3967, the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act or Honoring Our PACT Act, which will finally treat toxic exposure as a cost of war by addressing the full range of issues impacting toxic-exposed veterans, including access to earned benefits and health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Included in the PACT Act’s final text were four of Congresswoman Bush’s amendments:
    • Amendment 32: This amendment would require that veterans who worked or spent time near the Manhattan Project in St. Louis be studied to determine the impacts of toxic exposure on their health. 
    • Amendment 22: This amendment would require the Department of Defense to look back and review all known cases of toxic exposure on their military bases not only here in America, but also abroad. 
    • Amendment 17: This amendment would incorporate race and ethnicity as demographic options in a study on the rate of cancer in veterans. 
    • Amendment 18: This amendment would include a variety of external factors to be considered in a medical study on all veterans serving after September 11, 2001. Those factors include race, age, period of service, military occupation, gender and disability status. 
  • In July 2021, Congresswoman Bush passed an amendment to H.R. 3684 – the INVEST in America Act. The amendment would require the EPA Administrator to undertake a review of current and ongoing efforts to remediate radiological contamination at Coldwater Creek and to post public signage to prevent exposure risks for residents in the surrounding areas. The Congresswoman worked with activists, community members, and organizations including Just Moms STL, to introduce the amendment.

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