GOP Leaders Face Backlash for Stripping Radiation Compensation from Defense Bill

Republican Senator Josh Hawley has criticized GOP leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, after a measure compensating victims exposed to nuclear waste radiation was removed from the final version of the annual defense bill. The expansion and reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act had received overwhelming support in the Senate but was stripped from the House version of the bill. Hawley, a cosponsor of the measure, called the exclusion a "betrayal" to the victims and pledged to vote against the bill. The original law provided compensation to citizens exposed to nuclear waste radiation in certain states, and the reauthorization would have expanded coverage to additional sites.