National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
June 16, 2004
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the amendment offered by Senators BUNNING and BINGAMAN. This amendment, of which I am a cosponsor, makes significant and much needed reforms to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act of 2000.

Congress passed this law to provide timely, uniform, and adequate compensation to sick nuclear workers. These Department of Energy employees or contractors were made sick from exposure to toxic substances or radiation while assembling our nuclear deterrent. This law required DOE to help these former workers compile employment and medical records to assist in the filing of State workers compensation.

There are two facilities in Iowa that are covered under this law. Over 600 claims have been filed by former workers of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant located in Middletown, IA. These patriots served on our Nation's homefront during the cold war, putting themselves at risk building nuclear weapons. The least our Government can do is provide the necessary assistance to ensure that those eligible for compensation receive it.

However, one thing has been made perfectly clear. The Department of Energy does not have the capability or expertise to fulfill their responsibilities under this act. I began to question DOE's ability to process these claims in April of 2003, when I noticed they had received over 15,000 claims and only a handful had been fully processed.

I questioned Secretary Abraham on this point. I followed up with Under Secretary Card a few months later. I was told on both occasions that all DOE needed was more time and more money. I was skeptical, to say the least.

Then, last fall, the General Accounting Office confirmed my suspicions. Their conclusions, in a report I had requested, were stunning. Of the more than 19,000 claims filed with the Department of Energy, only 6 percent had been completely processed, and over 50 percent remained untouched. Even more, GAO concluded that more money alone would not result in more timely processing.

Becasue it was clear that DOE had a substandard operation in place to implement this important program, Senator LISA MURKOWSKI and I took action. We offered and had accepted an amendment to the Energy and Water appropriations bill to transfer the claims processing from DOE to the Department of Labor.

We knew at the time that DOE was not on the right track, and that DOL had the experience and expertise to handle this compensation program. While we were successful in the Senate, the Department of Energy and their contract had their way, and our amendment was stripped in conference.

Since that time, I have testified before Chairman DOMENICI's Energy Committee twice to outline the abysmal performance of the Department of Energy. It was at the second hearing where I shared information I had uncovered about the contractor that DOE had hired to do this work.

While only 6 percent of claims had been fully processed, DOE believed it was perfectly reasonable to pay the program manager of their hired contractor $401,000 annually. The head of DOE's contractor costs the taxpayer more than the salaries of Secretary Abraham and Secretary Chao combined.

Today's bipartisan amendment is a comprehensive approach to finally put an end to the perpetual delay in claims processing and address the lack of a willing payor to pay valid claims in Iowa.

It is my understanding that the administration opposes our amendment because they believe it will create an unworkable process and delay the processing of claims. This is precisely the same position they held last October when Senator MURKOWSKI and I pushed similar reforms.

It is unfortunate that the administration hasn't realized during this time that the unworkable process and unnecessary delay is not a result of our efforts here in Congress but the result of 4 years of ineffectiveness at the Department of Energy. This amendment simply makes the original law work.

I hope my colleagues can support our efforts on behalf of the thousands of sick nuclear workers across the Nation. Through this amendment, these sick workers will finally receive the compensation they so richly deserve.