New Mexico
New Mexican RECA activists voice frustrations in Washington, D.C.
It’s a fight dozens of New Mexicans have been fighting for years to get medical compensation for radioactive exposure.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Dozens of New Mexicans have been fighting for years to get medical compensation for radioactive exposure.
This week, another group is taking the fight to Washington, D.C.
“Many of them had stories. Many of them have family. Many of them themselves are sick,” said Loretta Anderson with the Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition.
Anderson is talking about all the Four Corners uranium miners. They say the health issues span generations.
“The hospitals, the clinic, they just send us around circles, and they don’t give us a clear diagnosis. So that the RECA, the old RECA Bill had expired on June 10. That’s when I realized this is wrong. This is wrong completely,” said Maggie Billman, a RECA activist from Sawmill, Arizona.
That’s why the group is lobbying for the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on re-instating RECA, the Radioactive Exposure Compensation Act.
Maggie Billman’s father was a Navajo code talker. He died from lung cancer in 2001. It’s stories like hers they want House Speaker Mike Johnson to hear.
“We’re going to his front door, and we’re going to demand that something gets done,” said Anderson.
The group took off Sunday, and after a 37-hour bus trip, they met with the New Mexico delegation Tuesday in D.C.
“RECA has expired because of Speaker Johnson,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján.
“We have the votes it passed the Senate, it will pass the House, bring it to the floor. These people should not have to cross the country for justice,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury.
The Senate already passed the legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support.
This week, House lawmakers are hearing from New Mexicans about why passing RECA is so important.
Mildred Chino from Laguna Pueblo says her husband was a uranium miner for 11 years, but was excluded from RECA because the government said he only had low levels of exposure. He died last year.
“I come with the voice of my spouse’s voice ‘Why mom why.’ Every time he got a denial letter. I have a stack of denial letters 2015 to about 2022 his claim went back and forth,” said Chino.
The group says they’ll never give up.
“‘You should’ve been dead by now,’ they told my sister last week. She said, ‘No I’m not, I’m fighting it,’” said Carol Etcitty Roger, a cancer patient from Shiprock.
The speaker of the House decides what goes to the floor for a vote.
The bill that passed the Senate would expand to cover people who were wrongly excluded, like Chino’s husband. It would also extend the bill for six years.
It’s unclear if there will be a vote this week while the group is at the Capitol.
Native Vote 2026
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Laguna Pueblo woman is the front runner to be New Mexico’s next governor.
Shortly after polls closed Tuesday night, Deb Haaland was declared the winner over Bernalillo County district attorney Sam Bregman in the state’s semi-open Democratic Party primary. As of 11:00 p.m., Haaland carried support from 72% of the Democratic primary voters to Bregman’s 28%, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
“We’re showing everyone that a better future in New Mexico is possible,” she told supporters gathered in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town Plaza. “New Mexicans want a leader who will stand up for working people, and who is ready to take on Donald Trump. I proudly accept your nomination as a Democratic nominee.”
Haaland spoke for 13 minutes, at times through a scratchy throat that required her to pause for water breaks. “Excuse me, I’ve been talking with voters all day,” she said while grabbing a water bottle before hitting her campaign stump notes on affordability, health care and public safety.
She will face Republican Gregg Hull, a former mayor from suburban Rio Rancho that won his party’s three-way primary with 47% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Haaland will be the Democratic Party nominee in a state dominated at every level by Democrats, and is expected to be heavily favored in the general election. With that insight she said her campaign message does translate to Republicans and Independent voters.
“We want our kids to thrive. We want our kids to have a quality, public education. We want every New Mexican to have health care. Everybody wants to feel safe in their neighborhoods, and everybody wants to be able to afford to put a hot meal on their table every night and have a roof over their children’s heads,” she said. “Those issues transcend whatever political spectrum we’re trying to slice and dice people into.”
Shortly after the race was called, Haaland campaign staff, major donors, surrogates, and their families walked from a building on the west side of Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza to the historic plaza core, where the Haaland campaign had set up a stage and reserved the entire plaza for its victory celebration.
“We are now witnessing history in the making,” New Mexico state Rep. Derrick Lente (Sandia Pueblo) said to supporters immediately after Haaland was declared the winner.
Denise Wilie (Dine) also joined the celebration of Haaland’s victory. Wilie said she worked on get-out-the-vote efforts with the Native American Voters Alliance in McKinley County.
“It just is so exhilarating to even think about, a woman and a Pueblo woman,” she said. “Indigenous all the way, is how I feel. I’m like, yes, let’s get more of our voices.”
Haaland was introduced by her two sisters and walked to the stage escorted by a mariachi band.
Speaking to reporters after the event Haaland reflected on voting for a Pueblo woman (herself) for governor.
“I got emotional, quite frankly, when I went to vote for myself because you do that when you’re a candidate,” she said. “We’ve never had a Native American governor in New Mexico. We’re a multicultural state. I think representation matters, especially in a political era such as this one. So, I’m really proud and honored to carry on the legacy of my ancestors, who worked so incredibly hard to make sure that I had a place here today.”
Related
When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
But they don’t have to do it alone thanks to an organization helping New Mexico families with some of those burdens.
Watch the video above for more.
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