Congressman Fights To Protect Compensation Payments For Ohio Nuclear Workers

Congressman Ted Strickland announced today he is an original co-sponsor of legislation which will protect benefits for former U.S. nuclear facility workers made ill working in facilities which produced the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2006 (HR 5840) protects benefits threatened by changes proposed by the Bush Administration which will limit the number of “Special Exposure Cohorts” (SEC) that would be approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The legislation specifically responds to a recent memo from the Office of Management and Budget to the Department of Labor outlining five options for “administrative procedures” to reduce the number of SEC’s approved in order to “contain in growth the cost of benefits provided by the (compensation) program.”

Specifically, the legislation will provide Congress with the authority to appoint the advisory board which recommends Special Exposure Cohorts instead of allowing the president to make these appointments. The legislation will provide greater assistance to claimants by expanding the responsibility of the ombudsman in the Department of Labor, and prevents bureaucrats from meddling with decisions behind closed doors by requiring that all deliberations be conducted out in the open.

“It is unconscionable that a program designed to help sick workers who were made ill because of the government's negligence would be undermined by narrow budget considerations,” Strickland said.  “Workers across the country who become ill because of their work in a U.S. nuclear facility should not fall victim to the administration's back door attempts to cut corners.” Read more at house.gov