Senate Expands Compensation for Nuclear Test Victims and Radiation Exposure

The Senate has passed a measure to provide health care benefits and compensation to communities affected by the first atomic nuclear bomb test in New Mexico, known as the "Trinity" test. Many individuals, including Native Americans and people of color, suffered from deadly cancers due to radiation exposure. The fallout from the test reached as far as Colorado, Idaho, and Montana. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, passed in 1990, excluded survivors of the Trinity test, prompting lawmakers and native tribes in New Mexico to seek justice. The Senate amendment, sponsored by Senators Ben Ray Luján and Josh Hawley, was adopted in a bipartisan vote and extends benefits to victims of nuclear tests, uranium mining, and nuclear waste storage. The bill will now go to a conference committee to reconcile differences with the House version.