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Senators add protections for Hanford workers to budget bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 25, 2017) — Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state announced Monday that they have secured new provisions in the Fiscal Year 2018 Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill to address ongoing concerns about workers in or near the tank farms at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation being exposed to chemical vapors.
The bill containing the two provisions passed the Senate Committee on Appropriations and now moves to the full Senate.
“While continued progress at Hanford is important, it should never come at the expense of workers’ health and safety,” Murray said. “I’m encouraged to see these important provisions pass this hurdle, and I will fight to make sure the Trump administration does everything in its power to put safety first and provide Hanford workers the health care and benefits they deserve.”
“Workers at Hanford deserve the most stringent possible precautions in place as they make progress on the clean-up,” Cantwell said. “The measures that Senator Murray and I were able to include in the 2018 Appropriations bill will help make progress towards that important goal, and I look forward to seeing them become law.”
In addition, the senators are pushing the U.S. Department of Labor to ensure current and former Hanford workers receive the health care and benefits they deserve and have earned through their dedicated service to the United States.
Murray is the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a senior member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Cantwell is the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.