Key Senators Push to Base Biomedical Agency Outside Washington

Senate legislation on a new biomedical research agency aims to put distance between the nation’s capital and cutting edge science, decreeing that the physical location of the entity isn’t in or near Washington, D.C.

The Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday will deliberate legislation (S. 3819) to authorize President Joe Biden’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the panel’s chair, confirmed in a statement.

The goal of the new agency is to deliver medical breakthroughs in the same way that existing programs in the Departments of Defense and Energy ...