A federal health advisory board is holding hearings this week in Cedar Rapids to discuss compensation to workers at the former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant near Burlington. Ex-workers and relatives demand compensation for illnesses, mostly cancer due to working with radioactive materials that went into weapons. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was among the speakers Monday. Grassley says “I see a lot of bureaucratic shenanigans going on and I’ve seen it for a long period of time under both Republican and Democrat presidents, that people, if they are prone to delay this thing until everybody dies, it’s quite possible that nobody would get benefits.” The plant in Middletown was in operation from the 1940s through the 1970s, employing thousands of Iowans to work with nuclear weapons. Many were sickened and died but the government denies the illnesses were related to the plant. Grassley says the workers did their part and the government should now do its part. Grassley says “We shouldn’t be playing games with people that were devoted federal employees building armaments that were very dangerous and their government knew it and the government didn’t tell them. It’s now time for the government to step up to the plate and meet its obligation.” Grassley was asked if the workers would get what they claim they’re due. Grassley says “I’m hoping but I’m a little pessimistic but on the other hand, I think we made a strong case.” Grassley, a Republican, addressed the panel in Cedar Rapids on Monday in a tour de force with Democrat Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and Republican Congressman Jim Leach, all in a unified call for the board to end the delay in providing proper compensation. Governor Vilsack says, in a news release, “It is abundantly clear that these Iowans, these Cold War heroes as they have been called, were often made ill because of their exposure to radioactive and other hazardous materials. The workers and their families deserve to have health care security and…financial compensation.”
