ST. LOUIS—As Congress moves closer to voting on a $1.2 trillion package to finish the budget process and avert a partial government shutdown this weekend, there is anger in the Missouri delegation that legislation that would expand a federal program compensating victims of nuclear radiation to include parts of the St. Louis area isn’t in the final bill.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., passed the Senate by a 69-30 margin on March 7. The existing federal program will go dark in June without reauthorization and currently doesn’t include the St. Louis region, which has a legacy of contamination dating back to the Manhattan Project era. The legislation would add residents in more than 20 St. Louis ZIP codes, along with residents in Alaska, Kentucky, Tennessee and others.

A bipartisan group of Missouri lawmakers, including Rep. Ann Wagner, Rep. Cori Bush and Rep. Jason Smith had urged House and Senate appropriators, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson to add the legislation to the spending package, which must be passed by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Wagner took to the House floor Thursday to share her disappointment. 

“Missourians are terrified that radioactive waste is poisoning our communities. These innocent victims of the U.S. nuclear weapons program are relying on congress for restitution. I am outraged Senate and House negotiators left this urgently needed legislation out of the spending package,” Wagner said in calling for a separate floor vote on the bill.

“This is an insult to our communities who continue to be harmed by the radioactive waste dumped and left for decades by the federal government,” Bush said in a statement. “How is it that our government always has endless funds for war but refuses to find the money to repair the harm it caused? But the push to reauthorize RECA is far from over.”

“Ann Wagner has been a relentless fighter for over a decade on nuclear waste issues in the greater St. Louis area and has pressed repeatedly and forcefully for timely action to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act,” Johnson said in a statement to Spectrum News. “I understand her position and I look forward to working closely with Ann as we chart a path together for the House to move forward with evaluating and acting on a reauthorization measure,” the Speaker said.

On social media, Hawley described Johnson’s comments as a “total failure.”

“Politicians have talked like this for decades. While doing nothing. The time to talk is over. The time to ACT is now,” Hawley wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “ Put RECA on the floor and vote on it. Stop screwing around with Missouri,” he said.