The 1990 The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) provides payments to individuals who contracted certain cancers and other diseases as a result of exposures to radiation released during aboveground nuclear weapons tests and/or during employment in uranium mines is set to sunset in July. Tina Cordova co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC), an organization which has worked since 2005 to increase the availability of payments beyond the limited geographic area defined in the original Act, and extend the Act for two additional years. She has support in congress for House bill HB5338 and Senate bill SB2798, but is short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass the extension.
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