Administration throws brakes on House 'Bioshield' bill

Progress on a Bush administration priority bill to encourage the development of diagnostic tests, vaccines and treatments for potential bioterrorist agents, already stalled in the Senate, has now stalled in the House as well.

The Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday abruptly postponed its markup of President Bush's "Bioshield" bill, "at the request of the administration," according to a note posted on the committee's door.

A panel spokesman later said Vice President Dick Cheney called House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., "and asked that we postpone it until we resolve the remaining outstanding issues."

While the measure now has bipartisan backing in both chambers, there are some holdouts on the bill's central provision-a guaranteed, mandatory funding mechanism for firms that undertake development of anti-bioterror products.

"The administration wants a blank check," said a Democratic aide. The Energy and Commerce spokesman said the panel will "move forward with or without a deal next week."

That is also the approach that appears to be emerging from the Senate, where the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the measure unanimously more than a month ago.

Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tried to bring up the bill Tuesday evening, but Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., objected on behalf of Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.

"Sen. Byrd believes there should be an annual appropriation for this matter; this should not be an entitlement," Reid said. But a spokeswoman for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said that, after several failed efforts to reach an accommodation with Byrd, Gregg is also prepared to proceed as soon as floor time becomes available.

"This is a bipartisan, national security bill and the only objections appear to be Sen. Byrd's," the spokeswoman said, noting that Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is a cosponsor of the measure. "We've worked to accommodate those objections, but we are prepared to bring the bill to the floor as it was passed out of committee," she added.