House Appropriations Committee ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) accused the Pentagon of secretly seeking access to billions of dollars Congress provided for National Institutes of Health research and called for the agreement to be terminated immediately.
Pentagon Agreement Draws Congressional Alarm
“This secretive attempt to siphon research funds away from NIH is outrageous,” DeLauro said in a statement Thursday. “Circumventing Congress to divert money intended to help Americans who are exposed to HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases — and directing those funds to the Department of Defense—is beyond the pale.”
DeLauro said that without notifying Congress, Defense officials signed an interagency agreement that could allow the department to draw from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funds research on HIV, influenza, malaria, tuberculosis and Ebola.
The statement noted that NIH disclosed the existence of the Department of Defense’s efforts only after House Appropriations Committee Democrats pressed for information.
“As if cancelling lifesaving medical research and clinical trials and firing cancer researchers en masse were not bad enough, the Trump administration is now trying to rob NIH of billions of dollars that Congress provided for medical research so that it can pad the Pentagon’s budget,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
Murray noted that Pentagon priorities should instead go through the annual appropriations process.
The exact amount sought and its intended use remain unclear, and DeLauro did not say NIH had signed the agreement.
The Department of Defense and the NIH did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
HHS Defends Potential NIH Defense Partnership
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told The Hill that the NIH and Pentagon “explored potential avenues of collaboration” on therapeutics, diagnostics and protective equipment for infectious diseases and other health risks.
The spokesperson noted that a partnership “would enable nimble multi-agency resources to collaboratively respond to public health emergencies, such as the recent Ebola outbreak.”
Iran War Costs Intensify Funding Dispute
DeLauro also said that it was “no secret that the Department of Defense is facing enormous financial pressure because of President Trump’s war of choice with Iran.”
In June, the White House sought $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, including $67.1 billion for the Defense Department, with $21 billion earmarked to replenish munitions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators in July that the conflict had cost an estimated $37.5 billion.
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