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JEFFERSON CITY — U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner said Wednesday she supports U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s plan to expand an existing nuclear waste compensation program to cover ӣ����Ƶ residents.

The Senate attached Hawley’s amendment to its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, but no similar expansion had cleared the House, which has approved its own version of the annual defense bill.

Wagner, a Republican from Town and Country, had not spoken out publicly in favor of Hawley’s amendment until Wednesday.

In a statement to the Post-Dispatch, she said members of both chambers’ armed services committees needed to meet in a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate.

“I am supportive of the Hawley amendment being included in the merged bill, and hope that the conference committee chooses to include it in the final version, so I have the opportunity to vote for its passage,” Wagner said.

She said she hoped Eric Schmitt, Missouri’s other U.S. senator and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would be named to the conference committee “and fight for all of Missouri’s interests in the upcoming negotiations.

“The ӣ����Ƶ area was significantly impacted by our country’s WWII nuclear program, and I will continue to advocate for those affected by it,” Wagner said.

Schmitt Hawley’s amendment, and U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-ӣ����Ƶ, also supports the Senate effort.

“I think this is incredible,” said Dawn Chapman, one of the founders of Just Moms STL, of Wagner’s support.

She said it was “good to hear it, because, you know, everything’s happening so fast with the Hawley amendment that we haven’t had time ... to reach out and get support or know where people stand.”

State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, said she anticipated Wagner’s support for Hawley’s amendment.

“She sent staff to our meeting last week, and I think he was blown over by the reaction from the crowd and the people in her district that are reporting injuries,” Byrnes said of a community meeting last week in New Melle.

Hawley’s measure, which has yet to pass the House, would provide reimbursement to people with a medical condition linked to nuclear radiation exposure and who were “physically present in an affected area” — defined by 20 ZIP codes — for at least two years after Jan. 1, 1949.

Affected ZIP code areas, which cover most of north ӣ����Ƶ County, the north riverfront area of ӣ����Ƶ and a large swath of St. Charles County are 63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63045, 63074, 63114, 63135, 63138, 63044, 63140, 63145, 63147, 63102, 63304, 63134, 63043, 63341, 63368 and 63367.

Bush met with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday at the Department of Energy-managed Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County.

In a statement following the meeting, Bush said, “this conversation marks an inflection point in a positive partnership, and I believe that, together, we will work with the community to ensure the federal government cleans up its waste, restores trust, and ensures our neighborhoods are safer and healthier.”

Granholm spoke to ӣ����Ƶ’ nuclear waste history during a stop Tuesday in the city’s Carondelet neighborhood to promote a federal grant for a company to manufacture a component for electric vehicle batteries.

Granholm said there was “no doubt” ӣ����Ƶ-area sites need to be cleaned up, and that “we’ve got to make sure that people feel safe.”

“I can’t speak for the administration on that particular piece because I just don’t know the answer, but it certainly is something we’re looking at for sure to bring justice to families that have been affected,” Granholm said.

Chapman said Wednesday she was waiting for more information on Granholm’s talks with Bush.

“Did she agree to anything?” Chapman asked. “Is she going to fight the amendment?

“Is she going to go back to DC, you know, and maybe schedule a Zoom meeting so we can all figure out where she is on this?” Chapman asked. “I don’t want to fight this energy secretary. I don’t know if she’s a friend or a foe.”

Speaking in New Mexico on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signaled he’s open to granting assistance for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing, including in New Mexico, where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in 1945, The Associated Press reported.

Biden brought up the issue while speaking Wednesday in Belen at a factory that produces wind towers.

“I’m prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of,” he said.

The president’s comments appeared to signal a willingness to expand the program to also include people in the ӣ����Ƶ area that may have been exposed to Manhattan Project waste.