This week, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran asked Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano for her assessment regarding the need for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) during a U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Hearing.

Sen. Moran asked Secretary Napolitano to update the subcommittee regarding what the state of Kansas is doing to make this project more affordable for the federal taxpayer. He also asked Sec. Napolitano to discuss the immediate need and threat Americans face if construction of the facility fails to move forward.

A Kansas Senate committee is preparing to weigh a proposal authorizing additional state bonds to help finance construction of the federal biosecurity lab in Manhattan.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee scheduled a hearing on the proposal today. The full Legislature reconvenes May 8 to wrap up the year’s business.

President Barack Obama’s proposed federal budget includes $714 million to build the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility at Kansas State University. The installation would replace a lab on Plum Island, N.Y.

The project’s total cost is $1.15 billion, and Kansas already has issued $105 million in bonds. Kansas officials haven’t yet said how much in additional bonds the state would issue for NBAF.

The lab will study animal diseases and develop measures to protect the food supply