[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 140 (Wednesday, October 17, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10795-S10796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. AKAKA (for himself and Mr. Rockefeller):
  S. 1561. A bill to strengthen the preparedness of health care 
providers within the Department of Veterans Affairs and community 
hospitals to respond to bioterrorism; to the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise to introduce two separate but 
related bills that address the crucial issue of our national 
preparedness for acts of bioterrorism. I plan to introduce a third bill 
next week. As we have learned firsthand over the past two weeks, 
bioterrorism preparedness is a topic where we have a considerable set 
of available resources combined with an urgent need for additional 
legislative action. The Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on 
International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services held 
hearings in July to learn what the Federal Government is doing to 
better prepare our communities for acts of bioterrorism.
  This morning, the Committee and Subcommittee held a joint hearing. We 
heard from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on the 
government's role in lateral coordination of response efforts between 
federal agencies and vertical coordination of efforts with the local 
and State agencies that are the first to respond to acts of 
bioterrorism. All our witnesses provided excellent testimony on the 
progress in national bioterrorism preparedness since the September 11 
terrorist attacks on America.
  The bills I introduce today address a set of key issues in our 
national response to acts of terrorism. First, I am sponsoring 
legislation to increase funding for research and development of new 
technologies to detect the use of biological weapons against this 
nation. Second, I am offering a bill with Senator Rockefeller to 
strengthen cooperation between the hospital network of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs and community healthcare workers across the Nation. 
And, third, I will introduce a measure next week to establish stronger 
safeguards for our Nation's agricultural system and protection of our 
crops and livestock from agricultural terrorism.
  The first piece of legislation, the Biological Agent Environment 
Detection Act, authorizes appropriations totaling $40 million to 
support research and development of technologies to detect organisms in 
the air, water, and food

[[Page S10796]]

that cause disease in humans, livestock, and crops. This mirrors the 
President's request of $40 million to support early detection 
surveillance to identify potential bioterrorism agents, announced by 
Secretary Thompson at today's hearing. Funds are necessary to encourage 
cooperative research agreements between the Federal Government, 
industry, and academic laboratories. The anthrax events of the past two 
weeks underscore the need for new detection methods and information-
gathering systems. These funds will also support ongoing efforts to 
develop satellite-based remote sensing technologies to identify weather 
patterns that contribute to the spread of infectious disease and 
biological or chemical attacks. Finally, this funding is necessary to 
support the rigorous testing, verification, and calibration of new 
biological detection technologies.
  The second piece of legislation, sponsored with my friend from West 
Virginia, Senator Rockefeller, will provide the Department of Veterans 
Affairs with additional funds to develop training programs with 
community health care providers. We need to enhance the cooperation 
between crucial elements of our health care system included in the 
National Medical Disaster System. These increased funds will support 
expanded use of existing telecommunications systems to implement a 
telemedicine training program for VA staff and their community public 
health counterparts. Remote regions of our Nation need the assurance 
that local public health responders will have the training and 
information they need to protect and treat citizens in instances of 
biological terrorism.
  The third bill, the Biosecurity Agriculture Terrorism Act, will 
enhance Federal efforts to prepare for and respond to acts of 
agricultural terrorism or naturally-occurring agricultural epidemics by 
prioritizing efforts, authorizing funding and establishing new policy 
guidelines. Planning, training, and communication are three 
cornerstones of the preparedness and mitigation measures that will 
support the people who initially respond to any agricultural terrorism 
incident. This bill tasks the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 
create an emergency response function for agricultural disaster within 
the Federal Response Plan. This would result in having response and 
recovery plans in effect in the unfortunate event of an actual 
agricultural terrorism incident.
  Together, these three bills will make significant and necessary 
contributions to the urgent task of protecting our Nation from all 
forms of bioterrorism. We can discourage and detect the manufacture, 
distribution, and use of biological weapons. We can use the existing 
emergency communication infrastructure, emergency response training 
programs, and community partnerships within the 173 VA hospitals across 
the Nation to train both VA staff and local health care providers for 
bioterrorism response. And, we can protect our national agriculture 
industry from attack with biological agents. I strongly encourage my 
colleagues' support as we move forward with this legislation.
                                 ______