[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 111 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1516]]
JOSEPH CURSEEN, JR. AND THOMAS MORRIS, JR., PROCESSING AND DISTRIBUTION 
                                 CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 4, 2002

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of HR 3287, a bill 
that would rename the U.S. Postal Service's Brentwood Processing and 
Distribution Center in Washington, D.C., as the Joseph Curseen, Jr. and 
Thomas Morris, Jr. Processing and Distribution Center.
  Joseph Curseen, Jr., and Thomas Morris, Jr., were two of four U.S. 
Postal Service employees who contracted inhalation anthrax while 
working at the Brentwood Processing and Distribution Center in 
Northeast Washington last fall. It is believed that they were exposed 
while sorting contaminated letters sent to congressional offices. The 
anthrax attacks temporarily suspended some mail delivery, closed 
numerous Congressional offices and mail processing facilities, while 
health officials tested and decontaminated equipment, offices and 
facilities.
  It has been almost a year since the anthrax mailings and we are not 
any closer to finding the person who sent anthrax contaminated letters 
through the mail. Last year, I met with postal workers from my 
district. They are proud to work for the postal service but are 
concerned for their safety. They assured me that neither rain, snow, 
nor anthrax laced letters would keep them from delivering the mail. 
However, with that renewed pledge and resolve, they wanted my assurance 
that the government cared about them. I have the highest admiration for 
the postal workers who have continued to go to work in this time of 
uncertainty. Congress must pledge to continue funding for anthrax 
research. For years the military has been preparing for a chemical 
weapon attack, specifically from the biological agent anthrax. Some 
military personnel have been vaccinated for anthrax. Perhaps we should 
consider vaccinating postal employees along with EPA scientists, lab 
technicians and others who conceivably could be the first points of 
contact.
  Washington's principal mail-processing center has been closed since 
Oct. 21. However, I am pleased that preliminary samples from the test 
fumigation of the quarantined Brentwood postal facility indicate no 
traces of anthrax spores.
  Although their coworkers were successfully treated for anthrax, 
Morris and Curseen were misdiagnosed and died on Oct. 21 and 22, 
respectively. The sacrifice they innocently gave to this country will 
live on in the renaming of the Brentwood processing center.

                          ____________________