NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005
Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, I express my appreciation to the Senator from Kentucky, and the Senator from New Mexico as well. The Senator from Kentucky has worked diligently, consistently, persistently, and made certain that this amendment saw the light of day.
I thank the Senator from Virginia for permitting it to be considered in this way.
I only have a brief comment to make, but this is an important comment. As the Senator from New York said, this amendment will fulfill the intent of the act in 2000 which intended to provide for our cold-war veterans, our sick workers. The Senator from Alaska, who is in the chair, has been one of those who have spoken eloquently about this in the Energy Committee on which we both serve.
Over 24,000 of our Nation's cold-war veterans have filed claims with the Department of Energy, and over 18,000 of those claims are still being developed or awaiting development. There are more than 4,800 cold-war veterans in Tennessee who are sick and are getting the runaround from the Department of Energy. It needs to stop. We should be treating our cold-war veterans with the same respect they have treated our country.
As of March 18 of this year, 60 percent of these cases were still awaiting development-60 percent. The Department of Energy has had, as has been said already, nearly 4 years to get its act together and has yet to do so. This amendment will transfer the responsibility of claims from the Department of Energy to the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor currently runs several workers' compensation programs and is well equipped to handle those claims. The changes will provide uniform medical benefits and allow a large number of claimants in the process to receive compensation much sooner.
I am proud to be a cosponsor of the amendment. I urge my colleagues to support it.
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Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I express my gratitude to the Senators from Idaho, and the Senator from South Carolina for working with me on this amendment. I voted against the Cantwell motion to strike because Senator Graham agreed to work with me in making some modifications to the underlying bill.
I am not opposed to reclassification of radioactive waste. What I believe is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must have a central role in this process.
The bill as it stands now grants the Department of Energy the right to reclassify nuclear waste from high-level to low-level waste. Under current law, only the NRC has authority to define high-level and low-level radioactive waste. Congress gave the NRC that authority in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The NRC's authority should be maintained. We should keep that authority in the hands of one regulatory agency.
This perfecting amendment ensures that the NRC has the final say in any re-classification criteria. One amendment would modify Section 3116 of the bill to require the NRC to approve the criteria that the DOE uses to determine whether waste incidental to reprocessing is high-level or low-level radioactive waste. This would maintain the NRC's authority over defining radioactive waste.
I hope my colleagues will support quick adoption of this amendment.
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Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, I wish to express my gratitude to the Senator from Idaho and the Senator from South Carolina for working with me on this amendment and allowing me to be a cosponsor. I voted against the Cantwell motion to strike because Senator GRAHAM agreed to work with me in making some modifications to the underlying bill.
I am not opposed to reclassification of radioactive waste. What I believe is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must have a central role in this process.
The bill, as it stands now, grants the Department of Energy the right to reclassify nuclear waste from high-level to low-level waste. Under current law, only the NRC has authority to define high-level and low-level radioactive waste. Congress gave the NRC that authority in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. I think the NRC's authority should be maintained. We should keep that authority in the hands of one regulatory agency.
This perfecting amendment ensures that the NRC has the final say in any reclassification criteria. Our amendment would modify Section 3116 of the bill to require the NRC to approve the criteria that the DOE uses to determine whether waste incidental to reprocessing is high-level or low-level radioactive waste. This would maintain the NRC's authority over defining radioactive waste.
I hope my colleagues will support quick adoption of this amendment.