WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today hosted a meeting of the Kansas National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) Task Force in his Washington office to promote Kansas’ efforts to secure the new Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new $450 million federal biodefense lab in Manhattan. Kansas is one of five states competing for the lab.

Senator Roberts said. "We had the entire Congressional delegation present, along with the Governor, the Lt. Governor, the Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, the Kansas House Minority leader, the Kansas Senate President, the Kansas Senate Minority Leader, and the Mayor of Manhattan. The meeting showed the high level of united, bipartisan support there is for this facility within all levels of our state’s government. I am unaware of any previous meeting where all those elected officials were in the same room at the same time, all working on the same page in bipartisan support of a single initiative. It truly illustrates the priority we all place on getting NBAF in Kansas."

"This meeting resulted in several achievements," Roberts said, "We confirmed that this is a united effort and that the lines of communication have been, are, and will continue to open. We also know what an amazing economic development opportunity this could be for Kansas. We confirmed the merits are on Kansas’ side and we all agree that we need to drive that point home at the federal level. As Honorary Chairman of the Kansas NBAF Task Force, I was encouraged by this meeting and am confident DHS will remain on schedule and announce the decision this fall."

For more information, please visit: http://www.nbafinkansas.com .

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