The amendment in question would reauthorize a bill that compensates Americans exposed to atomic testing and radiation from ore mining in Utah, Nevada and Arizona.
It would also extend it to people who were exposed as a result of the 1945 trinity test of the atomic bomb in New Mexico and those exposed in Missouri as a result of uranium production.
The amendment was passed by a Senate version of the bill ,but not the House’s version, and was ultimately dropped from the newly announced version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The latest version – a nearly $900 billion package — comes as a compromise between the two chambers.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a proponent of the compensation measure, attempted to slow down the bill’s passage in light of its exclusion, though the Senate cleared a procedural hurdle.
Senators voted 82-15 on the motion to proceed with the NDAA.
Read more at TheHill.com.