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The Administration at this tim
In addition, becsuse o
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tinues to oppose further Title I
uncertainty now existing as to.
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Payment.
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the -ammu it. needed to settle Title I claims, and the additional
uncertainty as to when the question about amount will be
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finally established, we think, at a minimm, it is premature to support
the auth rization contained in section 102.
‘These uncertainties arise because of pending Litigation.
‘The United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed and
remanded earlier decisions of the United States District Court in
two suits involving three claims, holding that the Micromesian Claims
Act and its legislative history db not preclude judicial review of
final decisions of the Micronesian Claims Commission
v. Bell,
569 F.2d 607 (1977); Melong v. Micronesian Claims Commission, 465 F.2d
630 (1977)).
The first question before us, and itself not a difficult one to resolve,
is where those three claims should be reheard, inasmxh as the Micronesian
Claims Commission has long since disbanded. We would be prepared to
offer legislation to provide a forum for this purpose, but it may be
that the problem is immensely more complicated than that. This is so
because after the Court of Appeals ruling, the District Cort ruled
against class certification, but this class action issue ts now on
appeal. If the lover court ruling against the class certification
is overturned, substantial effort would have to be eected in
re-determning a large mmber of claims. It is estimated that as
mary as 10,000 Title I claims might then require readjudication.
Such readjudications would probably (a) require creation of some
new instrumentality to perform the adjudicatory wrk, (b) result in
a change in the total anount of $22.6 million unfunded—but whether
upward or downward, we are unable to project, and (c) consume mary
months to complete.
The Administration remains opposed to further Title I payments at
this time. We will await the Court of Appeals decision on the class
action suit before determining what other steps may be
Qnly then will we know -the magnitude of the problem before us.
Section 103
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Section 103 would establish a comprehensive medical care and monitoring
program under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior for the
inhabitants of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utirikwho were subjected
to radiation damage as a result of United States nuclear testing in the
The Administration strongly believes that it is the responsibility of
the United States to insure that the people of the Marshall Islands who
have been exposed to radioactive hazards resulting from nuclear testing
at Enewetak ard Bikini receive proper medical followp and, where
appropriate, medical care.
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