Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) relationship with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) iced over once again after a last-minute deal on his signature radiation exposure bill was blocked.

Hawley reached an agreement with Utah lawmakers opposed to the scope of his legislation, which compensates victims of nuclear weapons testing, hours before congressional leadership released a 1,500-page bill on Tuesday funding the government into next year.

A list of priorities was attached to the funding bill, the final must-pass piece of legislation of the 118th Congress. But the radiation bill was ultimately left out, prompting Hawley to blame Johnson personally.

From the outset, Johnson has been opposed to the cost of reauthorizing the program.

“It was him alone,” Hawley said in a post on X. “BUT he’s willing to spend BILLIONS on Ukraine and foreign wars and every pork barrel project known to man.”

The compromise, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), would have been a six-year reauthorization of the radiation exposure program with a $10 billion price cap, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.

In the early fall, Hawley began negotiating directly with Johnson on a deal, with offsets part of the broader discussion over cost. But his bill continues to be met with skepticism from House leadership.

Many Republicans believe the program, which has been around for decades, should be winding down, not ramping up. Hawley’s allies counter that the law, which expired in June, excludes geographic areas where residents have been poisoned by uranium mining and the improper storage of radioactive waste.

Utah lawmakers had been one bloc opposed to the law’s expansion, but Lee managed to work out a compromise that expanded coverage in multiple Western states and for uranium miners.

The bill was run by the House Judiciary Committee, which did not object to its inclusion in the funding bill, and then sent to Johnson’s desk Monday night, according to the sources.

Lee denounced the ultimate funding bill as “full of handouts from The Uniparty,” questioning why Johnson agreed to fund $100 billion in disaster relief but not money for radiation victims.

The bill, known as a continuing resolution, would also provide funding for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and give lawmakers a pay raise after a 15-year hiatus, among other provisions.

The exclusion of Hawley’s bill could hold up its passage in the Senate, where any senator can keep leadership from fast-tracking legislation.

Last week, Hawley threatened to do exactly that as rumors swirled that Johnson was considering a simple reauthorization of the program that did not expand its scope. Government funding runs out at midnight on Friday.

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The program has defined Hawley’s up-and-down relationship with the speaker. He panned Johnson’s “indecision” on his bill after it passed the Senate 69-30 in March.

Hawley later had kinder words for Johnson as the two discussed a compromise, telling reporters at the time he “really appreciates” the speaker’s engagement.



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