Following an Associated Press article that revealed a previously secret White House blueprint “to contain growth in the costs of benefits” related to special exposure cohorts which provide presumptions in favor of compensation for sick atomic workers, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) has released the document on its Web site. You may find a copy of the Office of Management & Budget’s “passback” memo regarding the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) on the old GAP website.

The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims held a March 1 hearing on the OMB Passback memo, at which GAP Senior Policy Analyst Richard Miller testified. More hearings will be held in the near future. You can read Miller’s testimony, along with Subcommittee Chairman John N. Hostettler’s (R-Ind.) opening statement at the hearing, at GAP’s EEIOCPA page.

Earlier today, Chairman Hostettler announced the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that illustrates a “conflict of roles” in EEOICPA management by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) which risked “impacting the independence and credibility of the (EEIOCPA) Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health and its audit contractor.” You can find that press release on the old GAP website. The GAO report stated that key federal employees with conflicts were removed from overseeing the advisory board and audit contractor, but that NIOSH must be diligent to prevent future conflicts of roles.

The committee has made a new request to GAO to examine a tripling of administrative costs involving radiation dose reconstruction contractor Oak Ridge Associated Universities.