Kansas Senators Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts say funding for a federal lab to be built in Manhattan has passed an important hurdle.
The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, will study diseases that could be used to attack the nation's food supply. A Senate subcommittee voted earlier this week to approve more than $400 million for the lab. Moran said Thursday that a full Senate committee has now also voted to approve the funding.
“It is a determining factor in NBAF’s future. So today was a very important day,” Moran said.
Moran added that because the House and Senate have approved the same amount of funding, the proposal likely would not be changed in any eventual negotiations between the chambers.
The total projected cost of the lab is more than $1 billion.