U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was buoyant after senators included an expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in legislation aimed at enacting President Donald Trump’s agenda.
But the Missouri Republican reiterated that he won’t vote for a final version of what’s known as the Big Beautiful Bill if it makes stark cuts to Medicaid.
For several years, Hawley pushed to add Missouri ZIP codes to the act known as RECA. It provides compensation to people who became sick due to radiation exposure. For years, St. Louis-area residents have said they suffered illnesses from exposure to radiation from World War II-era nuclear weapons manufacturing programs.
While the Senate passed versions of the RECA expansion several times, it faced numerous roadblocks in passing the House. The program, which was established in 1990, expired last year.
Hawley announced on Thursday that senators are including RECA reauthorization and expansion in the massive budget bill, which includes Trump’s tax cuts, funding for immigration enforcement measures and a major boost to the nation’s debt ceiling.
If the Senate passes its version of the bill, it will need to go back to the House, where it can either be sent to Trump or changed once again in a conference committee.
During a conference call with reporters Friday, Hawley said he was optimistic that RECA would remain in the legislative package.
“It would be very hard for me to vote for a bill that doesn't include RECA,” Hawley said. “And this is extremely, extremely important to me.”
One of the big hang-ups in the past was the cost of RECA’s expansion and reauthorization. Hawley said the Congressional Budget Office said this version of RECA will cost up to $5 billion.
“This product reflects arduous negotiations,” Hawley said. “But also, the advocate community has been tremendous on this. And we worked with them all through this past year to get to a place where we could do significant expansion.”
While acknowledging that RECA has a long way to go before it’s reauthorized and expanded, Dawn Chapman of Just Moms STL said she was elated that the measure was included in arguably the most high-profile congressional bill of the year.
“I think we are all just thrilled, but we are also not naive,” Chapman said. “We are survivors of the Manhattan Project. We have been impacted very personally. And many of us have had extreme amounts of devastation in the form of illnesses in our families for generations because of this waste all across the nation.”
“We know that although we are in the package right now, we know that we need to stay in it, and we understand better than anyone,” she added.
Hawley eyeing Medicaid changes
Hawley has made national headlines for pushing back against potential major cuts to Medicaid in the budget bill.
When the process started, some Republicans were openly talking about reducing the amount of money the federal government provided to states like Missouri that expanded Medicaid under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act. That didn’t end up making it into the bill, but detractors of the legislation pointed to other provisions that could end up hurting rural hospitals and making it harder for people to retain coverage.
Hawley said he supports Medicaid work requirements, which in effect would prompt recipients to produce more paperwork showing that they’re employed. But while he said he hasn’t seen the text of how Medicaid would change under the budget bill, he reiterated that making wholesale cuts to the program would not only be politically unpopular – it would be against Trump’s wishes.
He added that more than 1.3 million Missourians either are on Medicaid or in a program designed to cover children.
“And most of those people, I can tell you, based on the data we have, are working,” Hawley said. “These are not people who are sitting around. They're on Medicaid because they cannot afford private health insurance, and they don't get it on the job. And I just think it's wrong to go to those people and say: ‘Well, you know, we know you're doing the best you can. We know that you're working hard. But we're going to take away your health care access' – which by the way they pay into with their taxes.”
