this task force includes depts of defense and state.  that would say to me that this is seen as a not only an economic issue but also possibly a security issue.  lack of bees would threaten our food supply and that's never a good thing for stability.  since the department of agriculture (USDA) is co-lead, and the USDAs agricultural research service (ARS) which does a lot of research on honey bees and is the host of what many beekeepers refer to as "Beltsville" (the place you can send your bees for testing for a variety of problems) I suspect there will be plenty of expertise. EPA also has been working on bees for a while.  when a law or an executive order (which this is) says that a Secretary will do something, that pretty generally means the secretary will appoint the necessary subject matter experts to do it. $8 million is not a lot but it's probably a deal more than has been available before for this type of work

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