Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., this week confronted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a private meeting over his opposition to a proposal that would provide compensation to victims of radiation exposure.
Hawley told reporters after meeting with McConnell in his Capitol office on Thursday evening that he criticized the minority leader for removing Hawley's proposal to both expand it and extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, an amendment that he notes got 61 votes in the Senate.
"We had a discussion about RECA, and I just told him directly to his face what I told all of you, which is I didn't appreciate that he took it out of the [National Defense Authorization Act]. That's a direct affront to my state. There are thousands of people who are dying, and that he's the problem and that I take that personally, just on behalf of my state, and it's not acceptable to me," Hawley said, according to The Hill.
He added that he told McConnell to support the proposal and noted that he has now updated it to include victims in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alaska.
Hawley said that McConnell "brought up the cost and I said I didn't hear a lot of grousing about the cost when we were voting on Ukraine funding or anything else for that matter. He called it an entitlement. I said it's not an entitlement, it's a compensation program for people the government has poisoned. I was very direct."
Although McConnell reportedly appeared unmoved by Hawley's plea, he didn't attempt to block a deal made by the senator with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to hold a vote on a separate bill on RECA.
"I feel good about it. It's progress. It's overdue," Hawley said about the vote, which is scheduled for next week.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.