Governor Sam Brownback has created a committee which will work to secure funding to build a federal lab in Manhattan. The National Bio and Agro-Defense facility, or NBAF, will study animal and plant diseases that could endanger the nation's food supply. Governor Brownback says keeping the 650 million dollar project on schedule will be a tough sell, with all the talk of budget cutting in Washington.
Kansas Senator Pat Roberts will head the committee made up of state and local officials. Congress has already appropriated 40 million dollars for the project. Major construction of the lab is slated to start in 2012.