Navajo Nation tribal leaders are the latest to call on Congress to reinstate the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Navajo President Buu Nygren, Navajo National Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, and dozens of others marched in Washington on Tuesday urging House Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on the bill.

About 30 people are driving nearly 30 hours from New Mexico to Washington D.C. to protest in the hopes of getting RECA put before U.S. House vote.

Along with advocates, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council Crystalyne Curley, and the entire New Mexico congressional delegation are part of a campaign to pressure Johnson to bring legislation that would extend and expand a program that compensates people exposed to nuclear radiation who have developed specific medical conditions,

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is holding up compensation for generations of Americans who developed cancer after exposure to the nation’s nuclear weapons program, several members of Congress said Tuesday.

A 2,000-mile bus trip has not deterred representatives from Southwest tribes from traveling to Washington, D.C., this week to support expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The law provides health screenings and financial aid for people sickened by testing of nuclear weapons in the 1940s.

Members of several Native tribes will travel to Washington, D.C. in an attempt to get lawmakers to revive a program aimed at helping them afford healthcare due to toxic poisoning.

Local Indigenous communities that have been impacted by long-term uranium exposure will be traveling to Washington D.C. on Sunday to demand that Congress pass a bill that will compensate those exposed to radiation.