Episode 3 - The human cost of Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project should be a cautionary tale. The U.S. is ramping up nuclear testing anyway.

J. Robert Oppenheimer chose a remote spot in south central New Mexico to build and test the world's first atomic bomb. The people who lived in the surrounding Tularosa Basin were not asked for permission or warned of the risk posed to their health and safety. Nearly 80 years later, proposed legislation giving one-time payments to New Mexicans who contracted cancer as a consequence of nuclear testing has been allowed to expire, blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson. The congressional stalemate comes as testing programs ramp up and the world braces for the possibility of nuclear war. Tina Cordova of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Association joins Lauren Warnecke and Matt Caplan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.