Adult Surviving Children

TO: United States Senate and House of Representatives

We applaud Congress for passing reforms to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act EEOICPA) enacted October 28, 2004. This legislation will allow timely compensation to the workers made sick at the nations nuclear weapons facilities. Unfortunately, an inequity still exists.

Part B of the EEOICPA Act of 2000, which covers claimants with certain cancers, berylliosis or silicosis, provides that, when there was no surviving spouse of the former worker, the compensation is divided among the living children, regardless of their age at the time of the parents death.

Under the new Part E, compensation is not allowed for surviving adult children unless they were under the age of 18, or under the age of 23 if in college, or a dependent of the parent.

This is not acceptable.

We understand that this provision is based upon some state workers compensation plans, but the survivors are in a different and unusual situation. EEOICPA is a federal law and, therefore, it can and should be treated differently.

The suffering of the children of the sick workers did not begin and end with death. Many of these workers suffered for years before succumbing to their disease(s) while their children were still at home. The financial burden of medical expenses detracted from the quality of life for their families. As adults, these children bought food, medicine, and cared for younger children as they cared for their parent in his/her last days. The families of the sick workers experienced a tragedy every day of the illness.

We, the undersigned, request that the new definition of survivor include all surviving adult children, when there is no surviving spouse. What is fair in Part B must be fair in Part E.

This is the right thing to do.