Downwinders from across Utah are on track to receive compensation for illnesses caused by radiation from nuclear testing as part of Republicans’ massive tax and spending package approved by the House on Thursday.
Its inclusion in the so-called “big, beautiful bill” is a win for advocates in Utah and other states who have long sought to expand and reauthorize the decades-old Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, which expired last year. Residents from 10 counties in southern Utah were initially eligible for compensation, but the Senate spending bill would expand to cover downwinders across the state.
That includes Mary Dickson, a Salt Lake City native and thyroid cancer survivor who will be covered for the first time if the bill passes. But it’s a bittersweet moment for Dickson, who had hoped to see the program further expanded to cover fallout victims from additional states and counties.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” she told KSL.com. “We’ve worked for this forever. We’ve worked so hard for so long and finally we get all of Utah covered. … But I had really mixed emotions the day I heard about it because they still left a lot of people out … and that they were left out makes me kind of heartsick.”
“It’s a win for sure, but it’s not over yet,” she added. “We’ll still keep fighting to get more of them included.”
The bill expands coverage for people affected by radioactive fallout to include all of Utah, New Mexico and Idaho, along with additional counties in Nevada and Arizona. It also expands coverage to uranium workers in several states, extends the program through 2028 and increases the amount of compensation people are eligible for.
The reauthorization would cost approximately $7.7 billion over the next two years, but some budget hawks are concerned lawmakers will feel pressured to continue expanding it and that the true cost will be higher.
“The official cost of this expansion is modest as it is only in effect for two years — but if made permanent, it could cost tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars,” reads a blog post from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “The Senate bill effectively creates a ticking entitlement time bomb that would put massive pressure on policymakers to extend this program.”
The expansion was sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, where much of the uranium for the Manhattan Project was processed. Missouri was not included in the original compensation program.
“RECA is generational legislation for Missouri and will finally deliver justice for survivors in the St. Louis region,” Hawley said in a statement.
A spokesperson said Utah Sen. John Curtis has continued to support a clean reauthorization of the original act, something Sen. Mike Lee has also supported. Both senators voted in favor of the spending package when it passed on Thursday.
Dickson spoke with KSL.com before the House vote finalized the bill, saying that whatever the outcome, she and others would continue to push to make more people eligible for compensation.
“We’ll probably have to regroup after this and say, OK, how do we move forward now?” she said.