TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Gov. Sam Brownback is likely to face questions about plans by Kansas to pursue funding for a new federalbiosecurity lab.

Brownback scheduled a news conference Thursday, only three days after President Barack Obama released a proposed budget that didn’t include money for construction of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan.

Workers have cleared a site near Kansas State University for the lab, which would research dangerous animal diseases and replace a facility at Plum Island, N.Y.

Obama’s budget proposals say the $50 million appropriated by Congress toward the $650 million project isn’t enough to start construction, and the Department of Homeland Security will reassess NBAF this year.

But U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress on Wednesday that the lab remains necessary.