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New Mexico's junior senator, who for years has been pushing to extend a federal compensation program for people sickened by radiation testing and waste, is now pushing to get as many New Mexicans as possible enrolled in the newly expanded program.
The federal spending bill, signed by President Donald Trump on Independence Day, includes the largest-ever expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, alongside sweeping tax cuts and cuts to programs like Medicaid and food assistance.
In a news call Thursday, Sen. Ben Ray Luján announced he had sent letters to members of the Trump administration urging them to make it easier for people to enroll.
The expansion was included in the bill at the urging of Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who has been working with Democrat Luján and others on the extension to help people sickened by nuclear waste in the St. Louis area. It will make "downwinders" affected by the 1945 Trinity Test and Cold War-era uranium miners in New Mexico eligible for federal compensation for the first time. New Mexico had been excluded from previous iterations of the program.
The letters from Luján and Idaho Republican Sen. Mike...