The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“DEFENSE WORKERS HEALTH BENEFITS LEGISLATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1301 on June 20, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DEFENSE WORKERS HEALTH BENEFITS LEGISLATION
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HON. DAVID E. SKAGGS
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 20, 1995
Mr. SKAGGS. Mr. Speaker, I am today introducing legislation to provide health insurance benefits to former employees at defense nuclear facilities such as the Rocky Flats site in Colorado.
This bill, the Defense Nuclear Workers' Health Insurance Act of 1995, is essentially identical to a bill I introduced in the last Congress, and is based on provisions of a defense nuclear workers' bill of rights that I introduced in 1991. Other provisions of that larger bill were enacted as part of the 1993 defense authorization bill.
The bill I am introducing today would establish a health insurance program to help with the costs of serious illnesses resulting from workplace exposure to radiation or toxic materials. This would be funded through the Department of Energy and would cover treatment costs exceeding $25,000 for the covered illnesses or injuries.
Mr. Speaker, nuclear weapons plant workers were on America's frontlines in the cold war. They helped our national defense mission, working with dangerous materials often under conditions that would not be acceptable by today's standards. Now, as the work force at these sites is reduced, we need to act to assure prospective future employers that company health insurance rates will not be adversely affected if they hire these former defense workers. We also need to act to give these workers assurance that they'll have health insurance coverage for work-related illnesses.
This is the right thing to do, Mr. Speaker. America has already rightly recognized a special obligation to veterans and to those exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during the cold war--uranium miners, people who were downwind from nuclear tests, and atomic veterans. Nuclear weapons workers deserve similar consideration, and this bill would provide that.
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