SRES 171 IS

107th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. RES. 171

Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning the provision of funding for bioterrorism preparedness and response.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

October 11, 2001

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. HATCH, Mr. BREAUX, Mr. WARNER, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. BOND, Mr. CLELAND, Mr. BURNS, Mr. REED, Mr. INHOFE, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. ALLARD, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. ENZI, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. HAGEL, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. CHAFEE, Mrs. CLINTON, and Mr. DOMENICI) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

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RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning the provision of funding for bioterrorism preparedness and response.

Whereas additional steps must be taken to better prepare the United States to respond to potential bioterrorism attacks;

Whereas the threat of a bioterrorist attack is still remote, but is increasing for a variety of reasons, including--

(1) public pronouncements by Osama bin Laden that it is his religious duty to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons;

(2) the callous disregard for innocent human life as demonstrated by the terrorists' attacks of September 11, 2001;

(3) the resources and motivation of known terrorists and their sponsors and supporters to use biological warfare;

(4) recent scientific and technological advances in agent delivery technology such as aerosolization that have made weaponization of certain germs much easier; and

(5) the increasing access to the technologies and expertise necessary to construct and deploy chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction;

Whereas coordination of Federal, State, and local terrorism research, preparedness, and response programs must be improved;

Whereas States, local areas, and public health officials must have enhanced resources and expertise in order to respond to a potential bioterrorist attack;

Whereas national, State, and local communication capacities must be enhanced to combat the spread of chemical and biological illness;

Whereas greater resources must be provided to increase the capacity of hospitals and local health care workers to respond to public health threats;

Whereas health care professionals must be better trained to recognize, diagnose, and treat illnesses arising from biochemical attacks;

Whereas additional supplies may be essential to increase the readiness of the United States to respond to a bio-attack;

Whereas improvements must be made in assuring the safety of the food supply;

Whereas new vaccines and treatments are needed to assure that we have an adequate response to a biochemical attack;

Whereas government research, preparedness, and response programs need to utilize private sector expertise and resources; and

Whereas now is the time to strengthen our public health system and ensure that the United States is adequately prepared to respond to potential bioterrorist attacks, natural infectious disease outbreaks, and other challenges and potential threats to the public health: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States should make a substantial new investment this year toward the following:

(1) Improving State and local preparedness capabilities by upgrading State and local surveillance epidemiology, assisting in the development of response plans, assuring adequate staffing and training of health professionals to diagnose and care for victims of bioterrorism, extending the electronics communications networks and training personnel, and improving public health laboratories.

(2) Improving hospital response capabilities by assisting hospitals in developing plans for a bioterrorist attack and improving the surge capacity of hospitals.

(3) Upgrading the bioterrorism capabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through improving rapid identification and health early warning systems.

(4) Improving disaster response medical systems, such as the National Disaster Medical System and the Metropolitan Medical Response System and Epidemic Intelligence Service.

(5) Targeting research to assist with the development of appropriate therapeutics and vaccines for likely bioterrorist agents and assisting with expedited drug and device review through the Food and Drug Administration.

(6) Improving the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile program by increasing the amount of necessary therapies (including smallpox vaccines and other post-exposure vaccines) and ensuring the appropriate deployment of stockpiles.

(7) Targeting activities to increase food safety at the Food and Drug Administration.

(8) Increasing international cooperation to secure dangerous biological agents, increase surveillance, and retrain biological warfare specialists.