Compromise reached on compensation plan
http://www.usatoday.com/news/poison/027.htm
By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - After weeks of discussion, House and Senate negotiators finally reached agreement Thursday on a plan to provide nuclear weapons plant workers with compensation and medical care for work-related illnesses next year.

The plan, part of a Defense Authorization Bill for this year, requires the next president to send Congress a specific proposal by March 15 detailing the amount of compensation and benefits he believes should be paid to the workers Thompson said.

Congress then would have until July 31 to enact specific compensation levels.

But if Congress does not act by then, a program would be implemented that would pay a benefit of $150,000 plus medical benefits to all eligible workers and former workers.

The agreement includes $250 million for next year to establish the compensation program, with an extra $25 million to get the program implemented immediately. The benefits will be an entitlement, meaning the money would not be subject to the annual appropriations process.

The estimated total cost of the program is $1.2 billion over five years.

The Defense Authorization Bill must still be approved by the House and Senate before it can be sent to President Clinton for his signature.

''This is a victory for the men and women who helped this country win the Cold War,'' said Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., who with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., co-authored a compensation plan unanimously adopted by the Senate in June. ''It's been a long, hard fight, but today Congress made good on its obligation to those who are suffering as a result of their service to our country.''

The Senate plan would have provided $1 billion over 10 years to compensate workers at 32 nuclear-weapons installations. They include Oak Ridge National Laboratory in east Tennessee, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in western Kentucky, Fernald in southwest Ohio, the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in southeast Ohio and the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada.

Under the Senate proposal, any worker suffering from exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica could chose either at least $200,000 and medical care or a set of benefits, including money for lost wages, that might be worth more than the lump sum.

House negotiators rejected that plan because their chamber's version of the defense bill contained no nuclear workers compensation provision and they wanted more study of any compensation program.

But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who opposed the Senate plan because of questions about the cost, called the negotiated program ''a common-sense compromise.''

''We need to ensure that these workers who have sacrificed their health in order to serve their country are dealt with fairly,'' Hastert said. ''It is time that the federal government take responsibility for the health of these workers, who have done so much in service to their nation.''

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said it was a ''hard fight'' to get the House to go along with a compensation plan.

''While we can never give these workers back their health, I am glad that we have begun the process of getting them some help,'' he said.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the negotiated plan ''a victory for those workers made sick by years of secret exposure to radiation and hazardous chemicals at the Paducah plant.

''We refused to take no for an answer,'' he said. ''This legislation guarantees that the government will never turn its back on those workers again.''

Thompson said the negotiated compensation plan still features eligibility criteria similar to those in the Senate-adopted proposal.

About 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear weapons plant employees suffering from work-related illnesses are expected to qualify for compensation. In addition, the plan may also provide more compensation to thousands of sick miners and others who dealt with uranium for the plants.

''With the help of the workers, we were able to convince Congress of the importance of this issue,'' Thompson said. ''We can never fully repay our debt of gratitude to these workers who served so well.''