The Bush administration plans to fully fund renovations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa legislators said.

In this year’s budget request, the Bush administration has agreed to give $58.8 million in funding for the NADC; this is the amount needed to reach the asked-for $178 million, which will go toward the new animal research and diagnostic facility in Ames.

“I’m very pleased that the president has included what was requested by USDA as the final amount needed to complete the project,” Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, said. “This is the largest public works project the USDA has ever attempted.”

Latham said that in the previous year’s budget, Bush had requested the full amount to be funded to complete the modernization project, but the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee requested only $122 million — $56 million short of guaranteeing the project’s completion.

The administration’s announcement, however, is an important step in ensuring the full funding is finally received, he said.

The work done by the NADC is important to consumer safety and the economic stability of America’s agricultural sector, Latham said. The benefit nationally is for food safety, animal health and homeland security, he said.

“The National Animal Disease Center in Ames is at the center of our national effort [to] prevent terrorism aimed at the food supply,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “President Bush’s budget includes the final phase of funding to make the most of this important laboratory.”

The modernization project will upgrade and consolidate many of the NADC’s existing facilities. It will also provide extra capacity to conduct research on animal diseases and promptly identify diseases. Not only will the project benefit the nation, but also the state of Iowa, Latham said.

He said this will make the NADC the largest animal disease research center in the world and attract business for Iowa.

“Anytime $58.8 million comes into a state, that’s a very positive thing,” said Mark Kehrli, acting director for the NADC in Ames.

Kehrli said this funding would allow the NADC to complete construction plans and carry out research and diagnostic programs in a state-of-the-art facility.

“We work on the most important diseases in the country,” Kehrli said. “Our facilities are aging, and in order to carry out research with today’s needs in mind, our facilities need to be different.”

The NADC opened in Ames in 1961 and primarily did research on cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry, he said. Today, the NADC is not just limited to livestock, but works with bison, white-tailed deer, elk and other wildlife, which presents unique challenges in conducting research, Kehrli said.

The new facilities will provide better opportunities to research and work with wildlife, he said.

Once the final funding is secured, completion of the project is estimated to be accomplished by the end of 2007 — but it could take longer without full funding, Latham said. The funding request will need to go through the Congressional Appropriations procedure, clearing both the House and the Senate before it can be enacted into law sometime this fall, he said.