House Democrats dig in amid ongoing fight in Congress over compensation for US radiation victims

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A top Democrat in the U.S. House says it will take a shift of power in Congress to ensure that legislation is finally passed to extend and expand a compensation program for people exposed to radiation following uranium mining and nuclear testing carried out by the federal government.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar joined Tuesday with members of New Mexico congressional delegation to call on voters to put more pressure on Republican House leaders to revive the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

With his party seeking to win back majorities in Congress, the California congressman made campaign pitches for New Mexico Democrats and vowed they would support the multibillion-dollar compensation program.

“I would say this is both a failure in government and this is a failure in leadership,” Aguilar said, referencing House inaction on the legislation.

The Senate passed the bill earlier this year, only for it to stall in the House over concerns by some Republican lawmakers about cost. GOP supporters in the Senate had called on House leadership to take up a vote on the measure, but the act ended up expiring in June.

Native Americans who worked as uranium miners, millers and transporters and people whose families lived downwind from nuclear testing sites have been among those arguing that the legislation was sidelined due to political calculations by the chamber's majority party rather than the price tag.

Advocates for decades have been pushing to expand the compensation program. Front and center have been downwinders in New Mexico, where government scientists and military officials dropped the first atomic bomb in 1945 as part the top secret Manhattan Project.

Residents have made it their mission to bring awareness to the lingering effects of nuclear fallout surrounding the Trinity Test Site in southern New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation, where more than 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted over decades to support U.S. nuclear activists.

The chorus grew louder over the past year as the blockbuster “Oppenheimer” brought new attention to the country’s nuclear history and the legacy left behind by years of nuclear research and bomb making.

Freshman Congressman Gabe Vasquez, a Democrat from New Mexico who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that national defense spending tops $860 billion every year.

“So when you tell me that we can’t afford to compensate people who have suffered through pancreatic cancer, miscarriages, the horrors of nuclear fallout and the generation that have suffered from it, it is a joke to me,” he said.

Vasquez, who is facing GOP challenger Yvette Herrell in his bid for reelection, suggested that the legislation be included in a defense spending measure and that lawmakers find ways to offset the cost by saving money elsewhere.

There's still an opportunity for House leaders to “do the right thing,” he said.

The law was initially passed more than three decades ago and has paid out about $2.6 billion in that time. The bipartisan group of lawmakers seeking to update the law has said that the government is at fault for residents and workers being exposed and should step up.

The proposed legislation would have added parts of Arizona, Utah and Nevada to the program and would have covered downwinders in New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Guam. Residents exposed to radioactive waste in Missouri, Tennessee, Alaska and Kentucky also would have been covered.

In New Mexico, residents were not warned of the radiological dangers of the Trinity Test and didn’t realize that an atomic blast was the source of the ash that rained down upon them following the detonation. That included families who lived off the land — growing crops, raising livestock and getting their drinking water from cisterns.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, left, is flanked by Democratic Congressmen Gabe Vasquez, of New Mexico, and Pete Aguilar, of California, as she speaks during a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Tina Cordova, center, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, points to audience members who have been dealing with the consequences of radiation exposure, while politicians gathered for a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Advocates of legislation that would extend and expand a multibillion-dollar radiation compensation program for downwinders and uranium workers listen to Democratic politicians during a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

Advocates of legislation that would extend and expand a multibillion-dollar radiation compensation program for downwinders and uranium workers listen to Democratic politicians during a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, a New Mexico Democrat, discusses legislative efforts to extend and expand a multibillion-dollar radiation compensation program during a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. ( AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

U.S. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, center, talks about efforts to revive legislation that would extend and expand a multibillion-dollar radiation compensation program during a visit to Albuquerque, N.M., Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has abruptly fired the director of the National Security Agency, according to U.S. officials and members of Congress, but the White House and the Pentagon have provided no reasons for the move.

Senior military leaders were informed Thursday of the firing of Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, who also oversaw the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, the officials said. They received no advance notice about the decision to remove a four-star general with a 33-year career in intelligence and cyber operations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions.

The move has triggered sharp criticism from members of Congress. And it marks the latest dismissal of national security officials by Trump at a time when his Republican administration faces criticism over his failure to take any action against other key leaders' use of the Signal messaging app to discuss plans for a military strike. It's unclear who now is in charge of the NSA and the Cyber Command.

Also fired was Haugh's civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble.

The NSA notified congressional leadership and top lawmakers of the national security committees of the firing late Wednesday but did not give reasons, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the matter.

The White House did not respond to messages seeking comment. The NSA referred questions about Haugh to the Defense Department, which had no comment Friday.

Far-right activist and commentator Laura Loomer appeared to take credit Friday in a post on X, saying she raised concerns to Trump about Haugh’s ties to Gen. Mark Milley and the Biden administration and questioned the NSA chief's loyalty to the president. Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first term but has since become an outspoken critic.

“Given the fact that the NSA is arguably the most powerful intel agency in the world, we cannot allow for a Biden nominee to hold that position,” Loomer wrote. “Thank you President Trump for being receptive to the vetting materials provided to you and thank you for firing these Biden holdovers.”

Loomer, who has claimed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were an “inside job,” had discussed staff loyalty with Trump in an Oval Office meeting Wednesday, according to several people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel manner. A day later, Trump said he fired “some” White House National Security Council officials.

Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said Friday that he has “long warned about the dangers of firing military officers as a political loyalty test.”

"In addition to the other military leaders and national security officials Trump has fired, he is sending a chilling message throughout the ranks: don’t give your best military advice, or you may face consequences,” Reed said in a statement.

He added that Trump “has given a priceless gift to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea by purging competence from our national security leadership.”

Another Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the U.S. was “facing unprecedented cyber threats” and asked how firing Haugh, who has served in the military for 30 years, makes American safer.

Trump hasn't commented on Haugh or Noble, but on Thursday he dismissed the National Security Council firings as normal.

“Always we’re letting go of people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he made his way to Miami on Thursday afternoon. “People that we don’t like or people that we don’t think can do the job or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.”

The firings come as Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, fights calls for his ouster after using the publicly available encrypted Signal app to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation targeting Houthi militants in Yemen.

Warner called it “astonishing” that Trump "would fire the nonpartisan, experienced leader of the National Security Agency while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app — even as he apparently takes staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office.”

Haugh met last month with Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has roiled the federal government by slashing personnel and budgets at dozens of agencies. In a statement, the NSA said the meeting was intended to ensure both organizations are “aligned” with the new administration’s priorities.

Haugh had led both the NSA and Cyber Command since 2023. Both departments play leading roles in the nation’s cybersecurity. The NSA also supports the military and other national security agencies by collecting and analyzing a vast amount of data and information globally.

Cyber Command is known as America’s first line of defense in cyberspace and also plans offensive cyberoperations for potential use against adversaries.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, David Klepper and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump, center, arrives on Air Force One at Miami International Airport, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)