US senators seek expanded compensation for those exposed to nuclear fallout

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. senators from New Mexico and Idaho are making another push to expand the federal government’s compensation program for people exposed to radiation from uranium mining and nuclear testing carried out during the Cold War. Downwinders who live near the site where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in the summer of 1945 as part of the top secret Manhattan Project would be among those added to the list. Democrat Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho have reintroduced the bill in the Senate. A similar bill is pending in the U.S. House, with supporters saying the clock is ticking as more people are diagnosed with cancers they say are connected to exposure.