National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, near the end of World War II, the United Stated detonated the first atomic weapon at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico.

Between this first test in 1945 and 1963, the United States did conduct nearly 200 atmospheric, that is aboveground, atomic weapons tests. These activities and other aspects of our atomic weapons program may indeed have led to cancer in some people and other radiation- related illnesses.

That is why, in 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, to provide restitution to these individuals. This would add to RECA an apology to individuals in many States. Now, notably, this amendment would extend an apology to individuals residing in States not even eligible for compensation under the current terms of RECA.

After Congress last extended and expanded RECA in 2000, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine studied the effect of nuclear weapons tests on the health of surrounding populations. This study concluded, ``the scientific evidence indicates that in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radiation from fallout was a substantial contributing cause to developing cancer.''

Simply put, the science does not support the assertion that atomic weapons testing caused widespread instances of cancer. Despite this finding, the amendment before us would declare that U.S. atomic weapons testing caused cancer in individuals in New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nevada, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Democrats are fond of saying we must follow the science when they forbid Americans from going to work or children from attending school or families from attending church. I wish they would actually follow the science not only when they find it politically convenient, but when they find it politically inconvenient.

Any change to RECA must be fully considered by the Judiciary Committee to ensure that compensation is only provided for illnesses that can be reasonably traced to activities of the U.S. Government.

On a personal note, I would add that my father, in 1945, was serving in the 88th Infantry Division in Italy. They were under orders to prepare to ship out for the invasion of the Japanese mainland. That invasion would have created a slaughter on both sides unimaginable to history.

The development of this weapon prevented that from occurring and saved countless Japanese and American lives and the slaughter that would have otherwise unfolded. That is not something I intend to apologize for.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, precisely because of the importance of those atomic tests and the impact on the people of New Mexico, which we all recognize was the very first test of an atomic bomb, and the importance that it played in our history, and the ending of World War II.

What we are asking for, at the very least, is an apology not for the bomb, but for the impact; the impact that it had on those lives of those people in those communities who are people that I know. They are grandparents and children, they are my neighbors. And I believe, that at the very least, we must apologize to those who we left out of RECA for the impact that they suffered with regards to their health.
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