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 The House of Representatives is considering a bipartisan bill that
would increase funding for the U.S. National Institutes of Health
and the Food and Drug Administration to boost research and approvals
of new treatments for rare diseases.
Funding for the measure would come from selling 80 million barrels
of oil a year over eight years from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,
emergency stockpiles that currently hold more than 690 million
barrels of oil.
The White House expressed general support for the bill but expressed
concern about increasing funding without addressing mandatory
spending caps known as sequestration.
"The administration reiterates the critical importance of making the
investments necessary to modernize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
and ensure it continues to support U.S. energy security," the White
House said in a statement.
The Energy Department has said it wants to improve the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve's infrastructure and make other changes to the way
the reserve can be tapped.
The House is expected to vote on the bill as early as this week. But
it could face obstacles in the Senate, where the head of the Senate
Energy Committee, Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has said she
opposes using money from any drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve for purposes other than energy security.
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(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Will
Dunham and Sandra Maler)
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