Hawley celebrates the compensation for radiation for survivors of nuclear tests

Senator Josh Hawley, R-MO., Was shoulder shoulder with firm democrats to celebrate the inclusion of key compensation for survivors of nuclear tests in the great and beautiful bill of President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Hawley has fought for the adoption of the Radiation Compensation Act (RECA) since the program cancellation in 2023. He has now been replenished and considerably extended thanks to the persistent bipartite plea.

Among the participants of Cross-Asle, the former representative Cori Bush, D-Mo., Who was among the most aggressive criticisms of the Republicans while he was at Congress. Hawley, however, kissed Bush during the event.

“Cori, thank you. We would not be here without you and your work,” he said, telling their multiple previous efforts to adopt the legislation.

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Senator Josh Hawley speaks during an event praising the adoption of the law on compensation for exposure to radiation to St. Louis, Missouri, Tuesday July 8, 2025. The former representative Cori Bush, D-Mo., Is represented just behind Hawley on his left. (Fox News (Anders Hagstrom))

Wesley Bell representative, D-MO, also voted against the OBBB, but said that he supported Reca legislation. The president of the Navajo nation, Buu Nygren, also attended the event and told the impact of nuclear tests on his community.

The bill applies to sites across the country where Americans, civilians, soldiers and members of the Navajo nation were exposed to radiation due to nuclear weapons tests and nuclear waste storage.

The event took place on such a site: St. Fif Park in St. Louis. The surrounding area was determined to be a hot cancer thanks to the storage of nearby nuclear waste.

The legislation applies to similar sites through the Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska, but the defenders of the bill and Hawley himself say that he remains more work to do.

“This is an excellent first step, but there is certainly more to do,” said NAACP president St. Louis, John Bowman, at Fox at the event. “It’s a good day, but there are better days to come.”

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The president of NAACP St. Louis, John Bowman, with his environmental chair, Bruce Morris in St. Louis on Tuesday July 8, 2025. (Fox News (Anders Hagstrom))

Bowman and others have highlighted certain postal codes that are not eligible for remuneration, and they say that work must be done to extend the documentation that Americans can use to prove that they are eligible for remuneration.

Dawn Chapman, founder of Just Moms STL, a defense group devoted to the issue of exposure to radiation, told Fox that the process – although difficult – has strengthened its belief in the legislative process.

The president of the Mike Johnson room in Los An (AP photo / Evan VUCCI)

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She said when she saw employees from the opposite sides of the celebrating alley and sharing high-fives after the bill. The bill has been adopted in the Senate three times in recent years before finally going to the president’s office.

“The system is still working. This is the case,” she said. “The media do not share it often.”