House Democrat Says the Pentagon Sought NIH Funds for Defense Use

The Pentagon, as it struggles with a budget crunch driven by the Iran war, sought access to billions of dollars Congress provided to another agency for biomedical research, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee said Thursday.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said in a statement that the Defense Department had signed an interagency agreement that could give it access to funding appropriated to the National Institutes of Health, including money for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. DeLauro did not say the NIH signed the agreement and described what transpired as a Pentagon “attempt.”

It also was not immediately clear how much money the Pentagon was seeking, where within the Defense Department it would go or what it would pay for. DeLauro’s office said NIH officials disclosed the effort after House Appropriations Committee Democrats pressed them for information.

“This secretive attempt to siphon research funds away from NIH is outrageous,” DeLauro said, calling for the agreement to be terminated. “It is no secret that the Department of Defense is facing enormous financial pressure because of President Trump’s war of choice with Iran. But the Trump administration cannot make American patients, families, and scientists pay the price.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funding was appropriated for biomedical research aimed at developing treatments or cures for infectious diseases, including influenza, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and Ebola, DeLauro said.