Rep. DeLauro, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said that the Pentagon is attempting to divert billions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to bolster its budget.

The details:

She said administration officials only recently disclosed to Congress that the Department of Defense signed an interagency agreement that could give the Pentagon access to billions of dollars meant for biomedical research.
Specifically, the funding would come from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which leads research on infectious diseases, including HIV.
The agreement is set to expire in 2036 but does not say how much money the Pentagon is seeking or exactly what it would be used to fund.

The response: HHS says a partnership between NIH and the Pentagon would allow multi-agency resources to collaboratively respond to public health emergencies. But critics condemn the move as a ploy that circumvents Congress to divert billions of dollars appropriated for biomedical research to address a budget crisis at the Pentagon.

Why it’s important: According to Sen. Murray, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the agreement establishes a framework for the Pentagon to “potentially tap billions of dollars in funding.”