Funding for an Ames agency that monitors the nation’s food supply is gaining support in the U.S. House of Representatives.

More than $58 million of government funding to the Ames-based National Animal Disease Center cleared another obstacle Wednesday when the Appropriations Committee in the House passed it unanimously.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, is a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.

“Congressman Latham has led the way in Congress from the first dollar to this final amount that will complete this project,” said James Carstensen, communication director for Latham.

Carstensen said Latham and President Bush have been trying to secure funding for the center since last year. Although the House’s budget for fiscal year 2005 contained the requested amount, the Senate’s budget did not. Last year’s bill signed by President Bush did not contain the full amount.

“This year, Congressman Latham approached President Bush and asked that he would fully fund the completion,” Carstensen said.

The success of the fiscal year 2006 agriculture budget in Wednesday’s committee meeting moves the issue before the full House for debate and passage. Carstensen said the issue will pass without difficulty and it would take approximately two weeks.

“[Latham] has been a strong advocate of the project since 1999 to 2000, and his colleagues are pretty well educated in the importance of this facility,” Carstensen said.

Ames-based NADC conducts testing for infectious agents like mad cow disease and Salmonella.

“We conduct research that helps keep America’s livestock healthy,” said Teresa Sutton, spokeswoman for NADC.

According to the NADC Web site, new facilities were necessary to keep the products of the $100 billion U.S. livestock industry in demand.

The renovations to the center come in four stages, one of which is in progress underneath the large white dome on the NADC grounds. If the funds are secured, a 545,803 square foot laboratory is planned to begin construction in fall 2005, with a final stage beginning in 2006.

The improvements are part of a larger project to modernize the NADC facility. According to the NADC Web site, many of the buildings are more than 40 years old and past their structural life expectancy.

More than $400 million of federal funds has gone into the new center, which also houses the Center for Veterinary Biologics and the National Veterinary Services Laboratories. NADC is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The House is behind it and the president is behind it,” Carstensen said. “Now we just need to make sure the Senate doesn’t fumble the ball.”

Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies, could not be reached for comment.