WATCH: Vasquez Presses Administration Officials on Their Openness to Resuming Above-Ground Nuclear Testing, Jeopardizing American Health and Safety
Vasquez cited legacy of New Mexico’s Downwinders and sounded the alarm on dire health impacts of above-ground nuclear testing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On April 22, 2026, during a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) pressed Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, Brandon Williams, for answers after the Administration expressed openness to resuming above-ground nuclear testing, reversing 60 years of precedent set by administrations from both sides of the aisle.
During the hearing, House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Vasquez noted, “New Mexico is at the heart of our nation’s nuclear program,” pointing to both the cutting-edge research being led at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory, as well as the painful legacy of the Trinity Test on New Mexico’s Downwinders.
On July 16, 1945, the Trinity Test exposed nearly half a million New Mexicans to radioactive fallout, poisoning land, livestock, and families across the state and leaving Downwinders with debilitating health effects including rare cancers, infertility, and death for generations.
“If we don’t learn from this history, we are doomed to repeat it,” said Vasquez. “I am extremely concerned that last October the President stated he would like to resume nuclear testing and that Defense Secretary Hegseth stated that the resumption of nuclear testing was a ‘very responsible way’ to maintain nuclear deterrence.”
“There is nothing, I believe, ‘very responsible’ about subjecting Americans to decades of debilitating health impacts, and it raises severe concerns about this Administration’s openness to restarting live or above-ground testing of nuclear weapons,” Vasquez added. “We don’t need to do this — our country can rest assured that our nuclear stockpile remains safe, secure, and effective thanks to the advanced work done by labs like Los Alamos and Sandia in New Mexico.”
Under Secretary Williams refused to commit to upholding the moratorium on above-ground nuclear weapons tests, instead claiming the decision to resume nuclear testing unilaterally sits with the President — with no checks and balances. Williams also acknowledged the legacy of the Downwinders, stating his own father was impacted by the fallout from the Trinity Test in New Mexico in 1945.
Just yesterday Rep. Vasquez announced that his Downwinder Commemoration Act unanimously passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee, marking a major bipartisan step toward establishing a permanent monument honoring New Mexico’s Downwinders at White Sands National Park. The park receives over 700,000 visitors a year and sits less than 100 miles from the site of the Trinity Test.
This win builds on Rep. Vasquez’s success in passing a part of the Downwinder Commemoration Act into law through the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, requiring the Department of Defense to establish monuments to the Downwinder community at White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base.
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