FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (June 27, 2018 – Hagåtña) – Panelists are set to examine the requirements for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program in a hearing with the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary taking place at midnight, Guam time, tonight. Guam resident, longtime advocate, and president of the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors (PARS), Robert Celestial will join other advocates from New Mexico, Arizona, and Idaho on a panel to discuss Senate Bill 197, also known as Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments of 2017. The Act would allow those who resided in Guam between 1946 and 1962 and who suffered from cancer or other listed radiation-related illnesses, to apply for compensation that would include free medical care and up to $150,000 from the remaining funds in the RECA Trust Fund. The panelists will each have 5 minutes to provide testimony and answer questions. Guam residents can watch the live broadcast of the hearing at 12 a.m. on June 28 at: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/examining-the-eligibility- requirements-for-the-radiation-exposure-compensation-program-to-ensure-all-downwinders-receive- coverage.
Yesterday, Vice Speaker Therese Terlaje and Mr. Celestial met with staff members from the office of Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the main sponsor of S.197 who will also be chairing the hearing. There will be 2 panels at the hearing, the first panel led by Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) who sponsored a similar bill in previous terms. The second panel will include Mr. Celestial and other representatives.
Please see the statement from the Office of Senator Crapo at: https://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/reca-downwinder-hearing-to-be-carried-live
Vice Speaker Terlaje and Mr. Celestial also met with Congressman Greg Walden (R-Oregon), Chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee, to discuss HR 2049, which is the RECA bill in the House of Representatives. Unlike the Senate where the bill was referred to one committee, HR 2049 was referred to 3 committees in the House, including the Energy, Judiciary, and Education committees. Also unlike the RECA bill in the Senate, HR 2049 would give healthcare parity to atomic cleanup veterans such as Celestial, who helped cleanup Enewetak after the nuclear testing. According to Terlaje, Congressman Walden thanked her and Celestial for bringing the scientific findings and recommendations by the National Academies of Science that Guam should be included as downwinders in RECA to his attention and promised that he would look into it. The Congressman also thanked Celestial for his military service, and said, “Our country is not done paying for World War II”.
Today, Vice Speaker Terlaje will meet again with the main sponsor of HR 2049, Congressman Ben Ray Lujan’s (D-New Mexico) staff. After tomorrow’s hearing, Vice Speaker Terlaje and Mr. Celestial will meet with Senators and members of the House to discuss healthcare parity for atomic cleanup veterans, which was fully supported by the Guam Legislature Resolution No. 40-34.
For more information, please call the Office of Vice Speaker Therese M. Terlaje at (671) 472-3586.