Nuke compensation weakens in Congress

Benjamin Grove

Friday, May 19, 2000 | 11:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Five weeks after the Department of Energy made a historic $520 million pledge to compensate nuclear weapons workers -- including Nevada Test Site workers -- for work-related illnesses, the proposal is crawling through Congress.

The House on Thursday passed a nonbinding resolution urging members to tackle the problem. A resolution expresses the "sense" of Congress but does not require action.

Still, the move was an important step, said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who co-sponsored the resolution.

"This resolution was a clarion call to Congress that this issue is ripe for a decision and resolution," Gibbons said.

Earlier he had argued for the resolution on the floor, "These wounds, for which no Purple Heart can ever be awarded, were received in Cold War battles waged in laboratories and weapons plants all across America."

But Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said the resolution isn't strong enough and doesn't get money to ailing workers fast enough.

"We are duty bound to protect the workers who are now suffering horrific illnesses because of services they preformed for their country," Berkley said.

Berkley tried but failed to introduce the legislation as an amendment to a military authorization bill. She criticized Gibbons for supporting a weak resolution.

Berkley and Gibbons -- and many others in the House -- have been at odds over how to turn the DOE's plan into law. They have fought over who should pay for the plan, the Department of Energy or the Department of Defense. They puzzled over procedural details.

"It's very disappointing and dismaying that the Republican leadership hasn't embraced this issue," Berkley said, drawing a party line in the sand.

But Gibbons stressed that the resolution was supported by Republicans and Democrats.

Gibbons also said the legislation needs to go through a number of hearings. Attaching it as a full-fledged amendment to the military spending bill would have slowed that bill, thereby slowing the flow of money to other needed military projects, Gibbons said.

Gibbons said he was optimistic the resolution would kick-start the hearings in his Armed Services Committee and four other committees. He said those committee chairmen have pledged to act quickly on the resolution.

Meanwhile the Senate version of the legislation -- a free-standing bill -- awaits hearings, but none have been scheduled. The bill was introduced by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid, both D-Nev., support the bill.

Department of Energy officials, flanked by 11 lawmakers, on April 12 made a landmark announcement that the department would no longer turn away claims made by workers who had labored to construct and test nuclear weapons at facilities in 10 states, including workers at the Nevada Test Site.

"The government is, for a change, on their side, not against them," Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said.

Richardson pointed to the "Congressional firepower" gathered around him and said, "I think we can get this passed."

Thousands of workers labored at the Test Site about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, some overseeing tests of nuclear weapons between 1951 and 1992.

Doctors have discovered lung scars in some workers that may have been caused by beryllium, a metal dust, or silica from dust in the Test Site's tunnels.