The clock is ticking. There are just 25 days left until thousands of Arizonans lose access to a lifeline that helps them pay for medical care they must receive after being exposed to federal nuclear testing.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) — a lifeline for Americans facing exposure from nuclear testing and uranium mining — is less than a month away from leaving thousands of Arizonans without money for medical care.
A bipartisan bill to not only extend but expand that lifeline has not seen action since March, according to the Congressional website. Senate Bill 3853 has already passed through the U.S. Senate with broad support on both sides of the aisle. Since it's reached the House, however, it has languished.
As a child growing up in Mohave County, Matthew Capalby saw deaths from his family, friends, and friends' parents.
"I grew up in Kingman thinking that when you reached your thirties that you were going to contract cancer," Capalby said. He's now the spokesperson for Mohave County Downwinders, a group of people living with the impacts of nuclear radiation exposure.
As ABC15 has previously reported, Arizona faces particular challenges with nuclear exposure. Testing took place in New Mexico and Nevada, two states bordering Arizona, and the Copper State itself also became home to much of America's uranium mining starting in 1918.
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The decision to test weapons of mass destruction on American soil had consequences that stretched generations into the future, as countless Americans suffered the effects years and decades down the line. Cancer, in particular, afflicted those downwind from the testing — now known as 'Downwinders.
Capalby has no shortage of stories of premature loss of life in Mohave County.
"There was an extended ranching family that lost nine members in one year in the 1970s," he recalled.
Finally, in 1990, justice somewhat came for Downwinders in the form of RECA. The money wasn't enough to pay all the medical bills, but it was something, for those who were lucky enough to get it. For those in the majority of Mohave County, though, the luck never came.
Arizona currently has more claims to nuclear radiation exposure than any other state, even though only half of the state is currently covered under RECA. Since RECA was created, the state has seen over 15,000 claims filed to receive financial assistance, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that advocates on behalf of those who have been exposed to nuclear radiation.
SB 3853 would not only extend the existing RECA program, it would expand it to cover the entirety of Arizona and increase payments for those impacted.
During a D.C. press conference on Thursday pressuring Speaker Mike Johnson to take action on the RECA expansion, lawmakers said they have enough votes in the House to get the bill over the finish line and onto President Joe Biden's desk.
They're running out of time, though, as RECA is set to expire on June 10. And the pain only continues to grow for those affected.
"I lost my uncle on Friday, who grew up in Kingman," Capalby, 59, said. "He was more like a brother. He was 66 years old, not old at all. And in perfect health other than the cancer and radiation exposure."
Capalby's uncle is another name to add to a very long list of those taken by nuclear testing impacts.
"The suffering and the decimation of entire generations of people in Mohave County," Capalby said. "Concerns went unheeded."
The largest pushback of the extension and expansion has been the price tag, as it could cost the government $8 to 10 billion per year, a representative for the Union of Concerns Scientists said.
Still, that's just a fraction of the $50 billion the U.S. already spends annually just to maintain its existing nuclear weapons. Downwinders are currently compensated $50,000, while uranium workers are compensated $100,000.
