Gov. Sam Brownback is warning Kansas legislators that the state and its congressional delegation face a continuous fight to obtain federal funding for a new lab that would research plant and animal pathogens.

Brownback told two dozen lawmakers during a Monday evening meeting at his official residence that he expects the legislative battle over the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to last another five years. A site in Manhattan, near the Kansas State University campus, has been cleared for construction of the $650 million biosecurity lab.

The new lab, which could start operations by 2018, would replace an aging facility on Plum Island, N.Y. But Congressman Timothy Bishop, a Democrat who represents the Plum Island site, is pushing to end funding for NBAF.