[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1489-E1490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

BILL TO COMPENSATE POISONED NUCLEAR WORKERS

______

HON. MARK UDALL

of colorado

in the house of representatives

Thursday, September 14, 2000

Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I am today introducing another
bill dealing with the pressing matter of providing compensation and
care for current and former nuclear-weapons workers made sick as a
result of their on-job exposure to radiation, beryllium, and other
dangers. Let me explain why I am doing so at this time.
Earlier this year, I joined in supporting the Whitfield amendment to
the Defense Authorization bill for fiscal year 2001. That amendment,
which was adopted by the House, clearly stated that Congress needs to
act this year to make good on the promise of a fairer deal for these
people who helped America win the Cold War.
This is a very important matter for our country. It's particularly
important for many Coloradans because our state is home to the Rocky
Flats site, which for decades was a key part of the nuclear weapons
complex. Now the site's old military mission has ended, and we are
working hard to have Rocky Flats cleaned up and closed. But while we
work to take care of the site, we need to work just as hard to take
care of the people who worked there.
The people who worked at Rocky Flats and the other nuclear weapons
sites were part of our country's defense just as much as those who wore
the uniform of an armed service. They may not have been exposed to
hostile fire, but they were exposed to radiation and beryllium and
other very hazardous substances--and because of that some have
developed serious illnesses while others will develop such illnesses in
the future. Unfortunately, they haven't been eligible for veterans'
benefits and have been excluded from other federal programs because
they technically worked for DOE's contractors--and for far too long the
government was not on their side. That has changed, I'm glad to say--
the Department of Energy has reversed its decades-old policy of
opposing workers claims.
I strongly supported that amendment because, as Len Ackland, writing
in the Denver Post, has correctly said, ``The shape of such legislation
will determine whether or not this nation, through its political
leadership, will finally accept responsibility for the physical harm to
thousands of the 600,000 workers recruited to fight the cold war by
producing nuclear weapons.''
So I was encouraged when the House adopted that amendment and went on
record as saying that now is the time for the Congress to accept that
responsibility. Adoption of the amendment signaled that the House
recognized this to be a matter of high priority and that it was
important for Congress to pass legislation this year to create an
efficient, uniform, and adequate system of compensation for these
civilian veterans of the cold war.
But that amendment was only a very modest first step. Since its
adoption, both the House and Senate have completed initial action on
the defense authorization bill--and the bill as passed by the Senate
includes a separate title, Title 35, that would set up a compensation
system for these workers who played such a vital role in winning the
Cold War. That title, and the other differences between the House and
Senate versions of the defense authorization bill, are now being
considered by a conference committee.
I am sure that this Senate-passed legislation could be further
refined. But we are rapidly nearing the end of this Congress, and time
is of the essence. That is why, along with more than 100 of our
colleagues, I have strongly urged the House's conferees to agree to
this part of the Senate bill. I remain convinced that having the
Senate-passed legislation included in the conference report on the
defense authorization bill would be the very best way to take the
essential first step toward the vital goal of doing justice to these
workers.
However, some questions have been raised about the details of that
Senate-passed legislation--and, next week, there will be a Subcommittee
hearing in the Judiciary Committee

[[Page E1490]]

to examine the pending House legislation dealing with this subject.
There already are a number of pending House bills. Most notably, there
is H.R. 4398, introduced by our colleague from Kentucky, Mr. Whitfield.
I am a cosponsor of that bill and I think it would be highly desirable
for that bill to be signed into law.
However, until now the Senate-passed legislation technically has not
been pending before the Judiciary Committee because it was passed as an
amendment to the defense authorization bill rather than as a free-
standing measure.
So, along with a number of other Members who are joining as
cosponsors, I today am introducing a bill that combines elements of the
Whitfield amendment to the defense authorization bill--namely, the
findings spelling out the background and the need for legislation--and
the substantive provisions of Title 35 of the Senate amendment to that
same defense authorization bill.
I am doing this so that the Judiciary Committee will have the fullest
possible opportunity to consider these provisions at next week's
hearing. My hope is that as a result the Judiciary Committee members
who are also conferees on the defense authorization bill will join the
other House conferees in agreeing to inclusion of these provisions in
the conference report. I think that will provide the best opportunity
to achieve enactment this year of an essential first step toward
providing a long-overdue measure of justice. I know that more will
remain to be done, but it will lay a good foundation on which to build
in the near future--something that I hope to be able to do beginning
next year.

Digest of Provisions of Bill

Title: Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Act of 2000 (based on Title 35, Senate Defense Authorization
Act, FY 2001).
Background: After decades of denials, the Administration
has conceded that workers who helped make nuclear weapons
were exposed to radiation and chemicals that caused cancer
and early death. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson is
leading the Administration's efforts to pass as comprehensive
a bill as possible in this Congress. The Administration
offered a preliminary bill in November 1999 (HR 3418) through
Representative Paul Kanjorski. After releasing a National
Economic Council Report in April 2000 which outlined the
science and policy reasons for implementing a federal workers
comp system for nuclear weapons workers, Representative
Whitfield, and many cosponsors, introduced HR 4398, a
comprehensive bill which covers radiation, beryllium silica,
hazardous chemicals and heavy metals.
New Bill/Senate Amendment: The Udall of Colorado bill
incorporates the provisions of the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Act of 2000, which was
adopted on the Senate floor as an amendment to the Defense
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2001. It provides for
payment by the Federal government of lost wages and/or
medical costs for employees who died or whose health was
damaged by exposure to beryllium, radiation or silica while
working for the defense of the United States through defense
nuclear programs of the Department of Energy (DOE) and its
predecessor agencies. These health hazards were special to
DOE and to nuclear weapons, which require both beryllium-
containing components and radioactive materials and drilling
of tunnels under the Nevada Test Site.
The compensation in this bill is modeled on the coverage
federal employees can receive in the Federal Employees
Compensation Act. Compensation decisions are to be based on
science and expert judgment, and dose information is to be
used where it is known or can be estimated. As with FECA,
compensation under this bill would be mandatory spending and
benefits are tax exempt. CBO has scored Title 35 of the
Senate's Defense Authorization bill at $2.3 billion over 5
years and $3.7 billion over 10 years.
Three federal agencies would be involved in the program.
The Department of Labor, which already administers FECA,
would handle the administrative processing of claims,
appeals, and payments. The Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), which currently oversees radiation and
beryllium health effects research at DOE sites, would oversee
the scientific decisions that must be made. The DOE, which
has the detailed information on and access to workers, is to
play an advocacy role in informing workers of the programs
and facilitating information flow to the Department of Labor.
Hazards and Coverage: Beryllium: Beryllium is a non-
radioactive metal that can cause an allergic reaction that
,severely scars the lungs. Beryllium lung damage has unique
characteristics and can be traced specifically to beryllium
exposure. The first sign of the allergic reaction is
beryllium sensitivity, which sometimes progresses to chronic
beryllium disease. Beryllium sensitivity must be medically
monitored, but is not disabling. Chronic beryllium disease
can disable or kill. Under Title 35 and this bill:
Workers who can show beryllium sensitivity (or who have
chronic beryllium disease but are not disabled) would be
eligible to have the medical costs of monitoring their
condition paid by the Federal government.
Workers who contract chronic beryllium disease and who die
or are disabled could also receive lost wage benefits, in
addition to medical costs.
Radiation: Radiation in high doses has been linked to
elevated rates of some types of cancer. Unlike beryllium
illness, it is not possible to look at a tumor and know for
sure that radiation in the workplace caused it. Scientists
have determined the doses at which certain cancers in workers
in certain age groups can be confidently be said to be
radiation caused. These data on radiation dose and cancer
form the basis in the bill for compensating workers who have
adequate dose records, as follows.
Workers who have a specified radiogenic cancer that is
determined to be work-related under HHS guidelines, but who
are not disabled, could have their medical costs of their
cancer treatment paid by the Federal government.
Workers who have a work related cancer, as established
under the HHS guidelines, and who are disabled or dead, could
also receive lost wage benefits, in addition to medical
costs.
Silicosis: Miners at the Nevada Test site drilled
underground tunnels through hard rock for the placement of
nuclear weapons devices that were subsequently tested. DOE
failed to adequately control exposure to silica dust and 20
percent of the workers screened by a DOE medical screening
program at the Nevada Test Site have found silicosis, a
disease that causes irreparable scarring of the lungs.
Workers with Non-Existent Radiation Records. Many worker
dose records in DOE are flawed, but this amendment requires
HHS to estimate dose, where records exist and it is feasible
to do so. In some cases, though, it is not feasible to
reconstruct what radiation dose a group of workers received,
even though it is clear from their job types that their
health may have been endangered by radiation. For these
special exposure situations, the bill provides that workers
can be placed by the HHS into a ``special exposure cohort''
that can be compensated for certain types of cancer
enumerated in the amendment. Members of the ``special
exposure cohort'' are eligible for the same compensation as
workers in the previous section. Because of the unmeasured,
probably large, internal radiation doses which they received,
and the lack of monitoring, protection, or even warning given
by DOE to them, certain employees at the DOE gaseous
diffusion plants are placed in the ``special exposure
cohort'' by law under the bill. It was the public outcry over
the deliberate deception of these employees by the DOE and
its contractors concerning workplace radiation risks that led
the Administration to propose the bill on which Title 35 and
this bill are patterned.
Lump Sum Payment Option. All of the above classes of
workers, if they are disabled, and their survivors, if the
workers die before being compensated, would be able to choose
a one-time $200,000 lump plus medical benefits in lieu of
lost wages and ongoing medical benefits described above. This
option is intended mostly for elderly, retired workers, or
for survivors of deceased workers.
Administrative Provisions. There are provisions in the bill
against receiving lost wages or lump sum payments for more
than one disability or cause of death. Benefits under other
Federal or state worker compensation statutes for the same
disability or death would be deducted from any benefits under
the bill. Title 35 and the bill also contain language making
payment under the amendment the exclusive remedy for all
liability by DOE and its contractors. For vendors, acceptance
of payment under this program would waive the right to sue,
but employees who seek court relief would have to file within
180 days of the onset of a beryllium or radiation related
disease.
Other Toxic Substances: The bill does not provide federal
compensation for health effects from exposure to other toxic
substances in the DOE workplace, but does authorize DOE to
work with States to get workers with these health effects
into State worker compensation programs. DOE will maintain an
office to review claims and advise contractors not challenge
claims deemed meritorious by DOE.

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