WASHINGTON – Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren marched with over 50 people, including Navajos, Hopis, and other Indigenous groups, to urge the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) amendments.
Holding bright yellow banners and chanting, “Pass RECA now,” they advocated for Indigenous radiation victims.
“You can see it in our people, in our Native nations, that when there is work to be done, regardless if they’ve got their cancer treatment, regardless of what is going into their bodies, they want to put themselves out there that so that our people can be helped,” President Nygren said at a Capitol press conference.
Joining Nygren were Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, uranium radiation victims, and sponsors of the legislation, including Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). The proposed bill plans to extend RECA and expand benefits to more communities, including Alaska, Colorado, and parts of Arizona.
“Many of our veterans, our workers, our grandmothers, our elders that are here,” Speaker Curley said. “Some even marched in wheelchairs and also canes to get here. But it didn’t stop them. It didn’t stop them today.
The Navajo Nation Washington Office raised over $40,000 to cover travel costs for the group. Director Justin Ahasteen emphasized the urgency, saying, “This is an issue that cannot wait.”
Sen. Luján criticized the delay in passing RECA amendments, attributing the lapse to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson. “If allowed to come up for a vote, it would pass,” he said.
Phil Harrison, a longtime RECA advocate and cancer survivor, shared his personal story. “We were never told the dangers. We did it to provide for our families.”
“We want that justice,” he added. “This work was done for national security.”
