[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 171 Introduced in Senate (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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               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.
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