Editorial: Now is not the time to delay assistance

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 10:09 a.m.

It is encouraging that the Labor Department finally has decided to compensate former nuclear weapons workers who developed job-related silicosis. There had been concerns that the department might not cover silicosis -- a common lung disease among former Nevada Test Site workers -- under the compensation program passed by Congress last year to aid ailing nuclear weapons workers.

It is troubling, though, that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said this week that the program might not be ready by July 31, which is when Congress wanted it to begin. Chao didn't want her department to run the program at all, but the White House ordered her to do so after an outcry from Congress. The White House should light a fire under Chao again to let her know that the program should get under way soon.

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