New Mexican RECA activists voice frustrations in Washington, D.C.

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.