Sen. Alexander takes up nuclear workers’ cause

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is pressing the Bush administration to fully fund a compensation program for sick nuclear weapons workers and calling for Senate hearings on why claims have been delayed.

“It has come to our attention that critical components of (the program) face a serious funding shortfall and program offices already have taken steps to cut back on claims processing,” Alexander, R-Tenn., and 15 other senators, including Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, said in the letter.

The letter to the Health and Human Services and Labor departments said radiation dose reconstruction activities and claims processing were being slowed.

“This news is extremely troubling to us,” said the letter signed by four Republicans, one independent and 10 Democrats.

“In establishing the program (in 2000), Congress intended our Cold War heroes and their families to be compensated as quickly as possible. Delays resulting from insufficient programmatic funding are unacceptable.”

A second letter from Alexander and 14 colleagues asked the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to hold a hearing on the problems.

Tennessee has more than 23,000 health claims from more than 9,000 individual workers — twice the number of any other state, with 7,000 Tennessee claims still waiting for a final decision, Alexander said.

“So this is very important to Tennessee,” he said.

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