I’m not sure what to make of this, but to see congressional Republicans fighting with the White House with just nine weeks to go before the election, it seems like a story that may be significant.
There’s a federal program that offers benefits for thousands of people who work in weapons plants and get sick while building nuclear bombs. The Senate passed a measure to streamline the compensation program, making it easier and quicker for these workers to get the benefits they’re entitled to. For some reason, the White House is blocking the change and even Republican lawmakers don’t know why.
“I can’t fully understand what their resistance is,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is in a tough re-election battle in Alaska. “We’ve been hammered by our constituents.”
Many of the workers are from battleground states in the upcoming presidential election, including Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington state.
“These people are sick and dying,” said Terrie Barrie of Craig, Colo., whose husband was sickened while working at the former Rocky Flats plant near Denver. “The administration, the Department of Energy, is just refusing to listen.”
The change doesn’t seem terribly controversial. The compensation program has been run by the Energy Department, but it’s been tragically inefficient — paying only 31 claims out of about 25,000 filed this year. The Senate plan, which has bi-partisan support, would move the system to the Labor Department and require environmental studies of the plants where workers get sick. Common sense 101, right?
Not for the Bush administration.
Administration officials declined to comment on their opposition to the Senate measure, except to point to a statement by the White House budget office citing concerns that a change would create an “unworkable process,” cause more delays, increase costs and expand the program’s scope.
Senate officials who crafted the measure know this isn’t true. So what’s the deal? Usually the administration can come up with some kind of nonsensical defense, beyond “no comment.” Their reticence suggests something’s up here.
As for the politics of the issue, Bush has already lost at least one vote in a swing state over this.
Harry Williams, a former worker at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility, said he is a Republican who doesn’t plan to vote for Bush this November as long as the administration continues to oppose the changes workers want.
“I voted for him last time, but this time around I don’t think I will,” Williams said. “As it comes to dealing with the working guy, his administration doesn’t have a feel for it.”
Keep an eye on this one.