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When it comes to wanting expansion of federal relief for exposure to government-sanctioned radiation, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is not alone among area members of Congress.

After a visit Sunday to the Metro East, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, is calling for the government to expand relief to include Venice, Illinois.

Budzinski joined Venice Mayor Tyrone Echols and other city leaders for a visit to the site of old Dow Chemical Co. factory in nearby Madison where uranium and thorium were processed in the late 1950s to early 1960s for nuclear weapons programs.

As a result, the site became a 1,400-acre dumping ground for radioactive materials, said Budzinski, whose district includes parts of Madison and St. Clair counties.

Hawley has been one of the most vocal proponents of urging Congress to widen the scope of federal coverage, stumping for sites in north ӣ����Ƶ County and St. Charles County, where Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. produced and stored uranium.

Former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a ӣ����Ƶ Democrat, also backed expanding the federal coverage.

Although passed by the U.S. Senate, the House has declined to expand the areas covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The act, first passed in 1990, covers people who lived in Utah, Nevada and Arizona at the time of nuclear testing and uranium mining during World War II.

Claiming that Venice residents have suffered health problems from the waste, Budzinski said “there is simply no reason to exclude these communities from the compensation they rightfully deserve.”