Advocates Fight For Those , Sickened By US Nuclear Testing , Program on Capitol Hill.<br />On June 7, the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation <br />Act (RECA) program is set to expire, ending a lifeline <br />for families sickened by the country's nuclear testing. .<br />On June 7, the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation <br />Act (RECA) program is set to expire, ending a lifeline <br />for families sickened by the country's nuclear testing. .<br />NPR reports that advocates have gathered <br />on Capitol Hill to fight for so-called atomic <br />veterans and save the RECA program.<br />Over the past year, multiple bipartisan <br />bills were approved by the Senate to <br />reauthorize and expand the program. .<br />Those bills stalled out in the House, <br />due to some Republicans objecting <br />to the cost of the program. .<br />According to sponsors of the bills, those concerns <br />were addressed by reducing the initial 2023 estimate <br />of $143 billion down to between $50 and $60 billion. .<br />NPR reports that RECA has provided payments up to <br />$75,000 to those sickened by the nuclear testing <br />program, totaling $2.7 billion to over 400,000 recipients. .<br />One of the groups fighting to have <br />the program extended is the <br />Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. .<br />The group works to raise awareness of illnesses <br />linked to Trinity, the government's code word for <br />the first nuclear bomb test, which took place in 1945.<br />Martinez White, a member of the group, <br />says fallout from those tests resulted in at <br />least six cases of cancer in her family of ten. .<br />I would often go home for <br />funerals and everybody in <br />Tularosa was dying of cancer. <br />We knew something was very weird. , Martinez White, Tularosa Basin <br />Downwinders Consortium member, via NPR.<br />There's no industry in the whole <br />Tularosa Basin but for White Sands <br />Missile Range, where the <br />Trinity bomb was detonated, Martinez White, Tularosa Basin <br />Downwinders Consortium member, via NPR
