What loves hotels, packs a mean bite, has increased its numbers by 500 percent in the United States in the past few years, and may soon be considered an enemy of the United States? Bed bugs. 

In mid-May, Rep. George Butterfield [D-NC] introduced H.R. 6068, the Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008, in an effort to combat the growing problems of bed bugs in the U.S. The bill would create a grant program in the Department of Commerce and authorize $50,000,000 in each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012 for giving these grants to states to combat bed bugs.

Nearly destroyed fifty years ago by DDT, bed bugs have made a resurgence in the U.S. since the pesticide was widely banned throughout much of the world.  

"Unfortunately, it's not a joke," Butterfield said. "Fifty years after being virtually eliminated, bed bugs are back all across the country."

The bi-partisan bill, cosponsored by Donald Young (R-Alaska), Donald Payne (D-N.J.), William Jefferson (D-La.) and Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) is a response to America's bed bug reinfestation and the creepy factor that's associated with the blood-thirsty critters.

Now found in all 50 states, bed bugs feed on the blood of animals, typically biting them just before dawn while their unsuspecting hosts are asleep.  Growing to only the size of a pencil eraser, bed bugs hiding in headboards, mattresses, chairs, and couches can be difficult to spot.  But they do pack a mean bite that often stimulates a mild allergic reaction, similar to mosquito bites, that may be capable of passing along diseases.  However, no known cases of disease transmission have been reported.

The Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008 is still in committee in the House, but if enacted, it would provide funding to states so that they could conduct inspections of lodging facilities for bed bugs, train inspection personnel; and educate the proprietors and staff of lodging establishments about methods to prevent and eradicate the insects that spread through ventilation systems.