Nuke workers still have shot at payments

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Legislation that would compensate laborers who became ill because of their work constructing and testing nuclear weapons is caught in the political winds in Congress.

Republican House leaders on Tuesday assured critics there is still hope for the legislation to pass this year. That followed reports Monday that the issue had been shelved because the Republican leaders were blocking the measure.

But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., is willing to make a deal if it is "reasonably well thought out" and fiscally responsible, his chief spokesman said Tuesday night.

"We want to know where the money is going to go and make sure it goes to the right people -- that is, the actual victims," Hastert aide John Feehery said. "The way it is currently drafted is not focused."

At issue is legislation that would compensate roughly 4,000 nuclear weapons workers and surviving families from around the nation who developed illnesses because of exposure to radiation, beryllium and silica. Nevada members in Congress have lobbied for compensation for workers who toiled between 1951 and 1992 at the Nevada Test Site and developed silicosis, a lung disease.

Workers would get $200,000 under one version of the plan; a new draft being developed might offer $100,000, Republican aides said.

A "conference committee" panel of House and Senate lawmakers is debating the legislation. A bipartisan coalition of Senate negotiators has tried to push the measure through. But key Republican House leaders reportedly want to hold more committee hearings on the issue first.

"This has not gone through the regular order," Feehery said. "One of our objections was to make sure this is well thought out. And so far, our impression is that this has not been."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., scoffed at that.

"This issue has been studied to death," she said in a written statement. "How much more information do they need to figure out that these workers were lied to by the government, and are dying now as a result of their diseases? This is an incredible injustice."

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said the issue was a matter of "simple fairness."

The Nevada delegation vowed to keep pressuring negotiators to approve worker compensation this year; Bryan and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., held a press conference to turn up the heat Tuesday. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., Nevada's lone Republican in Congress, said there was still hope to pass some form of the legislation this year.

Officials with the Department of Energy who have loudly been advocating for the compensation plan agreed there is still time left.

"The conference committee has not finished their final report, so there is still a window of opportunity," David Michaels, DOE's top health official, said during a telephone news conference. "Secretary (Bill) Richardson is committed to getting this program enacted this year."