KANSAS CITY, Mo. — U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a former mayor of Kansas City, has announced that he will seek a hearing and a congressional investigation into a federal compensation program for employees who became ill after working in nuclear weapons plants.
The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program was established in 2001. The government originally predicted that the program would serve 3,000 people at an annual cost of $120 million. About $12 billion has been paid to more than 53,000 workers.