[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 154 (Thursday, November 8, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2043-E2044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          NATIONAL MEDICAL EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 8, 2001

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing 
legislation, the ``National Medical Emergency Preparedness Act of 
2001'' to create at least four new National Medical Preparedness 
Centers within the Department of Veterans Affairs. These centers would 
develop contemporary diagnostic and treatment programs, as well as 
teaching protocols to deal with the many possible chemical, biological 
and radiological threats that may confront our Nation at this dangerous 
time. I am joined by distinguished colleagues of the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee: Lane Evans, our Ranking Member; Mike Bilirakis, our Vice 
Chairman and Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on 
Health; Steve Buyer, our Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations; and Cliff Stearns, our former Chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Health and Chairman of the Energy and Commerce 
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
  As we watch with deep concern the unfolding events and investigations 
regarding anthrax in Florida and New York, in my own Congressional 
district in Trenton, New Jersey, and now here in Congress, in the 
Brentwood Post Office and a number of other locations, I believe that 
it is imperative that Congress ensure our Nation better prepare itself 
for incidents of terrorism. We need timely, effective, and 
comprehensive responses to protect the health of the American people, 
and that is why my colleagues and I are introducing this bill. The new 
centers would be under the general umbrella of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, but would have special--even unique--missions that 
encompass a much larger role in protecting Americans.
  The bill calls for the establishment of at least four geographically 
dispersed locations. Each center would independently study and work 
toward solutions to problems emanating from exposure to dangerous 
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Although the VA would oversee 
these new centers, their work products should provide for the general 
welfare of the people. Mr. Speaker, we have learned a great deal in the 
last month about our health system's ability to recognize and respond 
to a biological attack. It is clear to me and the cosponsors of this 
legislation that there needs to be a significant investment in teaching 
health professionals about the effects of chemical, biological and 
nuclear agents. While health care specialists in the Armed Forces have 
developed a substantial body of information, their mission does not 
extend to teaching and assisting community health care providers 
throughout the United States. Further, we have seen the limitations of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in responding to 
outbreaks and attacks. The VA health care system is an important piece 
to addressing the problems we currently face.
  Perhaps what is most important about the VA's capability is that it 
already exists in the 54 states and territories. The VA consists of 171 
hospitals, 800 outpatient clinics and other facilities with their 
182,000 employees including 14,000 physicians, and 60,000 nursing 
personnel of whom 37,000 are registered nurses. This represents a 
federally-appropriated resource with centralized command and control 
leadership that is the largest fully integrated health care system in 
the United States. In past disasters, the VA hospital has sometimes 
been the only operational medical facility in affected localities. This 
widely dispersed but integrated healthcare infrastructure makes the VA 
an essential national asset in responding to potential biological, 
chemical, or radiological attacks. VA's existing medical capability 
could be quickly expanded and enhanced with only modest investments.
  The mission of these centers would be to conduct research and develop 
methods of detection, diagnosis, vaccination, protection and treatment 
for chemical, biological, and radiological threats to public safety, 
such as anthrax, smallpox, bubonic plague, radiation poison and other 
hazards to human health that we may not be able to fathom today. My 
bill would authorize these centers to engage in direct research, 
coordinate ongoing and new research and educational activity in other 
public and private agencies, including research universities, schools 
of medicine, and schools of public health. The centers would act as 
clearinghouses for new discoveries and serve to disseminate the latest 
and most comprehensive information to public and private hospitals in 
order to improve the quality of care for patients who are exposed to 
these deadly elements. The skills and knowledge they produce would also 
help to protect health care workers, emergency personnel, active duty 
military personnel, police officers, and hopefully, all our citizens.
  Through its extensive medical and prosthetic research and clinical 
care programs, VA already has expertise in diagnosing and treating 
viral and bacterial illnesses associated with previous serious health 
problems, such as the hepatitis C epidemic, the HIV pandemic, and in 
earlier generations, the tuberculosis crisis. In the early part of this 
century, a number of VA hospitals were created specifically to combat 
tuberculosis, which had a high incidence in the veteran population. VA 
currently operates two War-Related Illness Centers tasked with 
developing specialized treatments for those illnesses and injuries that 
result from veterans' combat and wartime exposures. VA has successfully 
launched new centers with expertise in geriatrics and gerontology, 
mental illness and Parkinson's disease. These centers are superb 
examples of what experts can do when

[[Page E2044]]

provided appropriate resources dedicated to specific goals. They show 
VA's ability to organize and develop programs and provide treatment for 
vexing health problems. In essence, these new National Medical 
Preparedness Centers would study those illnesses and injuries likely to 
come from terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction, or from 
another national environmental or biological emergency with similar 
risks.
  As we have seen since the anthrax incidents occurred, in many 
instances we possess no real protection, few treatments and only 
rudimentary methods of detection or diagnosis--this situation is simply 
unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. We need to make a major effort, and provide 
funding to accomplish it, such as we have done in many other cases. 
Whether in putting a man on the moon 32 years ago, or in combating 
polio closer to home, it is incumbent upon this Congress to encourage 
and fund solutions--in this case, to prepare the Nation to prevent or 
respond to the new and very real threats from terrorist use of 
chemical, biological and radiological poisons.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a time for all of us to think hard about what 
has happened to us, and what we need to do about it. The President has 
taken the right action by deploying our military forces in search of 
justice overseas. We need to help him with the right solutions here at 
home. These centers that our legislation would authorize are the right 
way to proceed in this important work. Please join with us in 
supporting our initiative to authorize four new National Medical 
Preparedness Centers, working within the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, but working for us all.

                          ____________________