ST. LOUIS — Painting a picture of the problems.
Thursday afternoon, US Senator Josh Hawley shared stories on the Senate floor.
"This is Zoey from St. Louis, she was born with a mass on her ovary," he shared.
Just Moms Co-Founder Dawn Chapman wants the world to know about the burden left behind from the atomic bomb.
Chapman said, "The senators have asked for photos. They want this to be real for the people in Congress. My email is full of hundreds of photos of individuals who have been sick of radioactive waste exposure from the United States."
The organization has been raising awareness for years and she was hoping compensation could help cover costs for victims.
"I'm so sad we have to fight so hard," Chapman said.
Just this summer, Hawley secured an added amendment to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, known as RECA. RECA compensates victims of radioactive waste exposure.
With this added expansion, it would cover St. Louisans impacted by the Manhattan Project.
Hawley's goal was to add RECA to the National Defense Authorization Act, also known as NDAA.
That added amendment was passed by the US Senate over the summer with a 61-37 vote to adopt Hawley’s measure to the NDAA to include its expansion to RECA.
RECA was enacted in 1990 and amended twice. It was going to end in July of 2022 but Congress extended the program for two years and it's set to expire in May 2024.
The compensation package has so far paid out at least $2.65 billion to more than 55,000 affected victims.
This week, the final version of the NDAA came down and RECA wasn't included.
Earlier in the week, Hawley said the original price tag was $147 billion. He told reporters they were able to revise that plan and bring the costs down by slashing the amount of years it would cover.
Chapman said the new number was $28 billion.
Hawley and US Rep. Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) may get another crack at negotiating a standalone RECA expansion measure through the Judiciary Committees in the House and Senate, which are the avenues through which these types of compensation measures traditionally travel.
Hawley’s Republican colleagues, however, privately expressed frustration at the way he approached the legislation. Not only did conservatives balk at the sticker shock, one Republican’s illustration of Hawley’s maneuvers sounded similar to a student rushing to submit incomplete homework, and then turning it in to the wrong professor.
“What he did is ridiculous,” one Republican source close to negotiations told 5 On Your Side. “He had no pay-for on it. He hadn’t vetted it. He didn’t even have the right zip codes.”
Congressional negotiators often use spending cuts or budget offsets known as “pay-fors” to account for new spending measures. In this case, Hawley’s proposal had none, and it asked Congress to authorize $147 billion in new spending over a 10-year span. Federal lawmakers felt a proposal so vast and expensive should’ve gone through regular order instead of tacking it on as an amendment."
"He’s got to know what he did was wrong,” the GOP source said. "He gave false hope to something that was never going to happen in this fashion. He didn’t have the CBO score or the pay-for. I think he misled his colleagues and he misled the advocates that deserve some recourse here."
In his reason to add RECA to the defense bill, Hawley said, "It should go to the defense bill because it's the defense department that started the nuclear program that made people sick and it's where it belongs. The Senate voted for this amendment with 61 votes. It wasn’t unrealistic, we did it."
“He can say he passed it, but they didn’t know what it was,” the Republican source said.
Hawley told 5 On Your Side this fight isn't over.
Hawley vowed to oppose the final NDAA bill and slow down its passage.
"This is not the end in a long shot, we will get it passed," Hawley shared.
Chapman believes RECA can bring relief.
For now, she continues to fight, putting the victims at the forefront.
"This will save lives or these people will continue to die. I think there is hope to other places and RECA can be added to other things. This was just the first thing that came up, the NDAA that was the first opportunity. It doesn’t mean it’s the best one," Chapman added.
She said they will be heading back to Washington D.C. in January to continue pushing for RECA.
Here are shared experiences from a project called Humans of West Lake Landfill:
Mary Oscko was a Coldwater Creek resident living next to St. Cin Park. She passed away this past summer 2023.
Christen Commuso:
"In an 11-month period between 2012 and 2013, I had my gallbladder removed, a total hysterectomy due to masses on my ovaries and stage 4 endometriosis, my left adrenal gland was also removed because of a tumor that was causing hormone disfunction, and I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Later in 2014, doctors found a new tumor on my remaining adrenal gland and a lesion in my liver. Because of all the primary issues, I have to get bloodwork every six months and scans every couple of years. Even with good insurance, the cost has become too great and I have started to ration my care. Basically, I'm forced to choose which way I could die."
"Zach was born with a rare radiation-linked brain tumor. He fought for six years, endured multiple brain surgeries (first at one- week of life), started chemo at three weeks old, and passed away when he was six years old. His mom, Kim Visintine, grew up playing on the banks of Coldwater Creek."
"Meet Kirbi. Her daughter, Kirstee, passed away from Glioblastoma Multiforme a rare malignant tumor on her brain stem."
No Photo:
"My name is Julie Henneseey Britt. I grew up in Wedgwood subdivision and the creek runoff was in our backyard. My father developed Parkinson's disease in his early 50's and died in his mid seventies. My mom had MS, diagnosed in her early 40's and died from lung cancer in 2018. She was not a smoker. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 with no family history. As kids we played in the creek frequently. "
Editors note: Initially, we reported the vote on this proposal happened at night. The story has been corrected to indicate the vote took place in the afternoon.