Ill Uranium Miners Left Waiting as Payments for Exposure Lapse: “A decade ago, Congress recognized the
contributions of … uranium miners and passed the Radiation
Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990, (which)
established one-time payments of up to $100,000 to miners or their families
and to people who lived downwind from the nuclear test sites in Nevada. Last
year, Congress increased the payout to $150,000, added new medical benefits
and expanded the number of workers eligible.

But after years of smooth operations, the program is broke. Scrambling last year
to pass President Bill Clinton’s final budget, lawmakers never debated the Justice
Department’s request for additional money to cover the expanded program
even as new applications were pouring in, and by May, nothing was left. And
Congress has been reluctant to act until it decides how to apportion the federal
surplus and how much to cut taxes.” New York Times