Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Committee, my name is Zach Wamp, from Tennessee's third district.  I represent thousands of workers who served our nation at East Tennessee nuclear facilities during the 2nd World War and the Cold War.  One of my highest priorities has been to make sure that the workers who served their country during this period are fairly compensated for any illness caused by their work at the Department of Energy facilities.  After years of work, a small group of Senators and House Members made this long-awaited benefit a reality, bringing justice to thousands of affected workers. 

In 2000, we were finally able to muster the necessary support to pass the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).  The final act that was signed into law was not what I had envisioned, but the reality is, it was the only bill that we could get enough votes to pass.  It is especially important that we now explore all non-legislative avenues to make this program better.

The subtitle B portion of the EEOICPA program under the purview of DOL and NIOSH has resulted in more than $170 million being paid to Tennesseans to date.  The joy and relief for the families of these workers who finally receive compensation after all of these years, is indescribable.  Many workers have expressed their thanks to me personally for the work that has been done in this portion of the program. 

There are more than 3,000 additional cases that have been referred to NIOSH and are awaiting a decision.  Despite the incredible difficult but commendable job that has been done by DOL and NIOSH in administering their portion of the program, there are a couple of issues that must be addressed to improve communication among the various agencies, as well as provide compensation to all those that the law intended.

There have at times been breakdowns in communication between NIOSH, DOE, and the various contractors at the former DOE facilities about what information is needed from the DOE sites to make a determination to award or deny a claim.  It would greatly benefit the claimants for the agencies to look at ways to improve this communication and establish, or modify specific and uniform guidelines for each group and site about exactly what dosage and environmental records are needed to process each claim.  With a program of this magnitude and this many government agencies involved, we need to be very careful that nothing slips through the cracks, and delays compensation to those who really need and deserve it.

EEOICPA gave NIOSH the authority to expand the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) that initially covered only the workers at the three Gaseous Diffusion Plants (GDP?s) to include additional groups of workers, anticipating that it would not be feasible to estimate radiation dose with sufficient accuracy for other groups of workers as well.  The draft rules for expanding the SEC published in the Federal Register depart from Congressional intent by limiting the specified cancers in the SEC from the original 22, and by raising the standard of "feasibility" in estimating the radiation dosage.  It is imperative that NIOSH take into account the intent of Congress when finalizing these rules.

In closing, let me say that while painfully difficult, administering this program is extremely important to thousands of people in East Tennessee.  This is literally a matter of life and death to many of my constituents.  I appeal to everyone involved to move quickly to expedite the benefits entitled to these Americans.  That is the least we can do for them after all they have done for us.