{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/senate-adopts-hawley-legislation-providing-funding-victims-stl-region-nuclear-contamination/", "Senate Adopts Hawley Legislation Providing Funding for Victims of STL Region Nuclear Contamination", "2023-07-27", "2023", "2023-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley\u2019s (R-Mo.) legislation to compensate victims of government-caused nuclear contamination in the greater St. Louis area was adopted by the U.S. Senate. The legislation took the form of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Senator Hawley\u2019s legislation was co-sponsored by Senators Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).\n\n\u201cFor fifty years, fifty years the federal government has put into the water, into the soil, into the air of St. Louis and surrounding regions radioactive nuclear material,\u201dsaid Senator Hawley. \u201cThey have not told the people of St. Louis. They have not compensated the people of St. Louis. They have not helped the people of St. Louis.\u201d\n\nHe continued, \u201cMr. President, it is time to make this right. The amendment we are about to vote on is a very simple amendment\u2014it is about basic justice\u2014compensating the victims of the federal government\u2019s negligence for what the government itself has done.\u201d\n\nSenator Schmitt said, \u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable that this radioactive waste was allowed to be recklessly dumped around the St. Louis area, and the ones paying for it the most are innocent St. Louis families. I grew up in Bridgeton, at the epicenter of this issue, and this is near and dear to my heart. The federal government has an obligation to keep Americans safe, and the pure negligence that has harmed St. Louisans has been brushed aside and covered up for far too long. I\u2019m proud to co-sponsor Senator Hawley\u2019s amendment in order to ensure this disaster is rectified and radiation victims in St. Louis are taken care of.\u201d\n\nSenator Hawley\u2019s legislation will:\n\nExtend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to cover victims of improperly stored Manhattan Project waste in the St. Louis region.\n\nProvide RECA compensation to those living in particular geographic areas who suffer from diseases associated with long-term exposure to radiation.\n\nHelp make right a government-caused environmental and health disaster that has impacted Missourians over the last 80 years.\n\nView the full legislative text here.\n\nBackground\n\nSenator Hawley has consistently advocated on behalf of the Coldwater Creek community and all Missourians impacted by government-caused nuclear contamination.\n\nMost recently, Senator Hawley sent a letter to the Department of Energy (DOE), urging additional testing for radioactive contamination at a site in St. Charles County, Mo., after a review of the Weldon Spring site in 2021 offered an extensive critique of the DOE\u2019s cleanup and monitoring efforts there.\n\nThis month, Senator Hawley sent a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman, Senator Joe Manchin, urging him to convene a committee hearing to discuss the government-caused nuclear contamination of the St. Louis area. He also sent separate letters to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), DOE, and Environmental Protection Agency, demanding answers from the government about the nuclear contamination.\n\nIn April, Senator Hawley\u2019s legislation mandating the clean up of Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District and radioactive waste testing passed the U.S. Senate and Biden\u2019s Energy Secretary Granholm also vowed to support it.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:18:03Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/senate-adopts-hawley-legislation-providing-funding-victims-stl-region-nuclear-contamination/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9048851206898689, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}