Pentagon Agreement With N.I.H. on Biodefense Draws Alarm From Democrats
New York Times · LC · trust 49/100
Under a new partnership, the Defense Department would play a larger role in biodefense and pandemic preparedness. Democrats warned it could allow a Pentagon cash grab.
Listen · 5:53 min Share full article The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, is focused on chemical and biological defense research. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times By Catie Edmondson and Carolyn Y. Johnson
The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, is focused on chemical and biological defense research. It does not specify a dollar figure for the partnership or which research projects would be included, but people familiar with it who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it could involve as much as $2 billion from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about a third of the agency’s budget.
Congressional Democrats, who publicized the agreement, said they feared it would allow Pentagon officials to spend money lawmakers had allocated for programs at the health agency on their own priorities instead. The Trump administration has repeatedly found ways to go around Congress on spending, including canceling federal grants . It has also used similar arrangements, known as interagency agreements, to try to gut the Education Department by subcontracting its functions out to other departments .
“The interagency agreement needs to be terminated immediately,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “These funds were provided for lifesaving medical research, not as extra money for the Department of Defense.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, accused the Defense Department of “trying to rob N.I.H. of billions of dollars that Congress provided for medical research so that it can pad the Pentagon’s budget.”
Trump administration officials denied that was the case.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the N.I.H. director, defended the agreement on Friday, writing on social media that “far from siphoning money away from research, this partnership between @NIH and @DeptofWar focuses on research projects that will drive discoveries to improve the health of American citizens and members of the military.”
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