[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 3 (Thursday, January 9, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S153-S154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. EDWARDS (for himself and Mr. Hollings):
  S. 118. A bill to develop and coordinate a national emergency warning 
system; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce, together with 
Senator Hollings, the Emergency Warning Act of 2003.
  In the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster, Americans 
must know how to respond. In the first terrible hours on September 11, 
2001, in Washington, in New York, and across the country, most of us 
didn't know what to do. We didn't know whether it was safer to pick our 
children up from school or safer to leave them there. We didn't know if 
we should stay at work or head for home.
  For everything that's happened since September 11, the reality is 
that if an attack happened again, many of us still would not know what 
to do. That must change.
  To prepare Americans to respond in time of attack, the first thing we 
need to do is to update our emergency warning system. Today, that 
system depends heavily on television and radio, and it has two big 
problems. First, the system doesn't reach millions of Americans who 
aren't near a TV and radio at a given moment. How many of us would hear 
a warning issued on TV at 3 a.m? Second, the system doesn't provide all 
the information we need. For many of us, the new color-coded terrorism 
warnings have proven more confusing than helpful. We need practical 
information about what we can do to respond to threats or attacks.
  While the terrorist attacks have highlighted the need for effective 
public warnings, they're also essential during natural disasters. In 
fact, most public warnings deal with weather hazards like hurricanes 
and floods. After Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina, the Air Force had 
to rescue more than 200 people stranded in cars, on roofs, and in 
trees, people who weren't told to evacuate their homes until it was too 
late. More than 50 people died during that hurricane. In our State's 
neighbor, Tennessee, six people died during a 1999 tornado because 
tornado sirens failed. With all the technology that we have at our 
disposal, we can do better.
  In short, we have to make sure effective warnings get to every 
American in time of danger, and we have to make sure those warnings 
tell folks just

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what they can do to protect themselves and their loved ones.
  The Emergency Warning Act will help achieve that goal. This 
legislation will require the Department of Homeland Security and the 
Department of Commerce to make sure that comprehensive, easily 
understood emergency warnings get to every American at risk, Whether 
from flood, hurricane or terrorist attack. This bill instructs Commerce 
and DHS to work with the government agencies that currently issue 
warnings, with first responders, with private industry, and with the 
media to make sure that our emergency warning system actually warns 
Americans who are at risk.
  There are a lot of things the system could do using existing 
technology. For example, it could alert Americans in their homes 
through a special phone ring. These warnings could reach people as they 
sleep in their homes. For people on the move, the system could use cell 
phones, which can already be programmed to broadcast emergency warnings 
to all users in a certain area--even if those folks are just passing 
through. Pagers and beepers can achieve the same result. Televisions 
can be programmed to come on automatically and provide alerts in the 
event of a disaster.
  We also can make sure that warnings provide the specific information 
people need--what to watch for, where to go, how to travel, what to 
bring. We should not have empty warnings. Instead, we should respond to 
specific threats with specific information that people can use.
  This legislation was developed with a lot of help from the 
Partnership for Public Warning. Their comprehensive study of the 
problem, ``Developing a Unified All-Hazard Public Warning System,'' 
pointed the way to what we are doing. I'm grateful for their help, as 
well as the indispensable help of Senator Hollings.
  Creating a better emergency warning system is only the first step we 
must take in order to empower Americans to respond to terrorist attack. 
As I've said in the past, I believe Americans want to contribute to our 
nation's defense, they are just looking for ways to do it. In the 
coming weeks, I will introduce additional legislation to support 
civilian defense efforts across America. But this bill makes an 
important contribution to our efforts.
                                 ______