House subcommittee authorizes center to study bio-threats
Bill gives DHS flexibility to decide on a site for the facility, but clarifies that the department will not interfere with USDA's authority.
A Homeland Security subcommittee approved a bill Wednesday to authorize the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to study infectious diseases and biological threats to humans and animals.
The House Homeland Security Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee approved the bill (H.R. 1717) by voice vote.
The bill would authorize the creation of a massive new research center, known as NBAF, to study biological threats and develop countermeasures against outbreaks.
Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the language included in this bill represented an attempt to resolve a jurisdictional dispute with the Agriculture Committee and the Agriculture Department by giving the Homeland Security Department more flexibility to decide on a site for the new center and by clarifying that DHS would not interfere with the USDA's authority.
"It is my intention to resolve their concerns," Langevin said.
The Plum Island Animal Disease Center, run by the USDA, has been the primary center for this type of research for the past 50 years, Langevin noted, but the facility needs updating and containment technologies have advanced enough so that there is no longer a need to conduct the research on an island.
"The lack of this facility is a serious gap in our homeland security apparatus," said McCaul, who estimated the cost at $450 million. "USDA will be free to direct its own research at NBAF, but the reason to create it will be to research on high consequence diseases that will seriously impact national security."