[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 20 (Monday, February 3, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H1518-H1520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS ALLOWABLE USE ACT
Mrs. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1791) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to codify
authority under existing grant guidance authorizing use of Urban Area
Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program funding
for enhancing medical preparedness, medical surge capacity, and mass
prophylaxis capabilities, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1791
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Medical Preparedness
Allowable Use Act''.
SEC. 2. USE OF CERTAIN HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT FUNDS FOR
ENHANCING MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS, MEDICAL SURGE
CAPACITY, AND MASS PROPHYLAXIS CAPABILITIES.
Section 2008 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
609) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by redesignating paragraphs (10)
through (13) as paragraphs (11) through (14), respectively,
and by inserting after paragraph (9) the following:
``(10) enhancing medical preparedness, medical surge
capacity, and mass prophylaxis capabilities, including the
development and maintenance of an initial pharmaceutical
stockpile, including medical kits, and diagnostics sufficient
to protect first responders, their families, immediate
victims, and vulnerable populations from a chemical or
biological event;''; and
(2) in subsection (b)(3)(B), by striking ``(a)(10)'' and
inserting ``(a)(11)''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Indiana (Mrs. Brooks) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Indiana.
General Leave
Mrs. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Indiana?
There was no objection.
Mrs. BROOKS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1791, the Medical
Preparedness Allowable Use Act, introduced by my colleague and the
former chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness,
Response, and Communications, the honorable Congressman Bilirakis from
Florida.
This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to make it clear
that grant funds under the State Homeland Security Grant Program and
Urban Area Security Initiative may be used to enhance medical
preparedness and purchase medical countermeasures.
The Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications Subcommittee
held a series of hearings in the 112th Congress on medical
preparedness. The subcommittee heard about the importance of medical
countermeasures from representatives of the emergency response
community, and this bill is in response to those concerns.
In August, I held a field hearing in my district looking at central
Indiana's ability to handle a mass casualty event. Like the witnesses
who testified at the hearings held in the 112th Congress, these
witnesses at the field hearing stressed the importance of building
medical preparedness.
As a result of this bill, grant funds could be used for items such as
pre-deployed medical kits for first responders and their families,
caches of equipment, training and exercises, and planning activities.
The grant guidance for these programs currently allows funds to be used
for medical preparedness equipment and activities.
This bill codifies those activities to ensure that they will continue
to be allowable, and it will not cost any additional money to do so. We
have seen the benefits that grant funds, including those used for
medical preparedness activities, have provided when it comes to
response capabilities. This was clearly demonstrated in response to the
Boston Marathon bombings.
We know that the threat of chemical or biological attack is real. In
fact, my subcommittee will be holding a hearing next week to get an
update on the bioterrorism threat and preparedness here in this
country.
We must ensure that our first responders have the tools and
capabilities they need if such an event should occur. This bill has the
support of several first responder groups, including the International
Association of Emergency Managers, the International Association of
Fire Chiefs, and the Emergency Services Coalition for Medical
Preparedness. I will insert their letters of support into the Record.
H.R. 1791 was approved by the Committee on Homeland Security last
year by a bipartisan voice vote. I am pleased that, during the markup,
the committee approved an amendment offered by the ranking member of
the subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), to ensure
that in addition to protecting first responders funds can also be used
to protect vulnerable populations such as children.
I urge fellow Members to support this bill, and I reserve the balance
of my time.
Emergency Services Coalition
for Medical Preparedness,
April 26, 2013.
Hon. Gus Bilirakis,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Bilirakis: The Emergency Services
Coalition for Medical Preparedness is pleased to support the
Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act. The events of the
last two weeks again demonstrate the need for immediate, at
hand protections for our emergency services personnel and
their families and households. The Congressionally-chartered
WMD Commission has issued warnings for years about the
continuing threat from biological weapons.
Emergency services professionals are uniquely expected to
continue operating in hazardous conditions when others are
sheltering. Whether responding to industrial fires, bombs
placed in cities, or other situations with unknown secondary
risks, the protections described in the Medical Preparedness
Allowable Use Act will enable emergency services to more
confidently carry out their tasks.
Pre-event medical caches have been provided for federal
workers and hundreds of postal employees. Your bill addresses
the lack of protection of the millions of local and state
protectors who daily provide law enforcement, public works,
emergency management, fire, rescue and emergency medical
services.
The Coalition looks forward to working with you and your
staff in passage of the Bill. Thank you for your leadership
and continuing support for ``protecting the protectors.''
Sincerely,
Tim Stephens,
Advisor.
____
International Association
of Fire Chiefs,
Fairfax, VA, April 26, 2013.
Hon. Michael McCaul,
Chairman, House Committee on Homeland Security, Washington,
DC.
Hon. Bennie Thompson,
Ranking Member, House Committee on Homeland Security,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman McCaul and Ranking Member Thompson: On behalf
of the 12,000 chief fire and emergency officers of the
International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), I urge you
to support the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act. This
bill addresses an important aspect of America's homeland
security and emergency preparedness through improving the
resiliency of emergency first responders by helping provide
pre-event Medkits to first responders and their families.
Individual physician-based prescription efforts and federal
planning have already provided protections for countless
employees of the U.S. Postal Service and the federal
government--first responders however have not been included
in these pre-event protections. The Medical Preparedness
Allowable Use Act addresses this gap by allowing
jurisdictions to use the Urban Areas Security Initiative and
State Homeland Security Grant Program funding to improve
their medical preparedness through the procurement of Medkits
and other medical countermeasures.
In 2008, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of
Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism issued their
report in which the Commission identified a biological attack
as the most likely threat to the United States. In the event
of a biological attack, our nation's first responders will
[[Page H1519]]
play crucial roles such as treating patients and mitigating
the effects of such a biological attack. One of the most
effective ways to ensure the resiliency of emergency first
responders is the provision of pre-event Medkits for first
responders and their families. These Medkits will allow first
responders to focus on protecting and serving the public
rather than worrying about the safety of themselves or their
families. The Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act will
help jurisdictions provide these crucial protections to their
first responders.
Thank you for your support for America's first responders.
We urge you to continue your support by ensuring first
responders and their families are protected while they
protect their communities.
Sincerely,
Chief Hank Clemmensen,
President and Chairman of the Board.
____
International Association of
Emergency Managers,
Falls Church, VA, May 1, 2013.
Hon. Gus Bilirakis,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Bilirakis: The U.S. Council of the
International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM USA) is
pleased to support the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use
Act. We thank you for introducing a bill which addresses the
lack of protection for the emergency services protectors by
providing funding to enhance medical preparedness, medical
surge capacity and mass prophylaxis capabilities. We were
pleased to testify before you in support of a similar bill
last session.
Helping local and state jurisdictions provide crucial
protection to first responders, their families, and immediate
victims from a chemical or biological event through Medkits
and other medical countermeasures will ensure the resiliency
of first responders. These Medkits will allow first
responders to focus on protecting and serving the public
rather than worrying about the safety of themselves or their
families.
Thank you for your continued support to protect America's
first responders and their families.
Sincerely,
Jeff Walker,
CEM, IAEM USA President.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1791 the Medical
Preparedness Allowable Use Act, and I yield myself as much time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1791 would formally authorize grant recipients
under the State Homeland Security Grant or Urban Area Security
Initiative programs to use the funding to enhance medical preparedness
and medical surge capacity.
Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency already permits
grantees to use these funds to enhance medical preparedness, this
measure will give some predictability to grant recipients as they
struggle to rebuild and maintain a robust medical response capability
at the State and local level.
Additionally, I am proud to support this effort to provide resources
that will equip our first responders with home medical kits. When
disaster strikes, we have an obligation to protect our protectors. We
also have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable in our
communities.
During the full committee markup of H.R. 1791, the committee
unanimously approved an amendment I offered. This amendment would
ensure that resources are available to develop plans to distribute
countermeasures to schools and child care facilities, the elderly,
individuals with special needs, and low-income communities in the event
of a biological incident.
I would like to thank the full committee chair, Mr. McCaul, and the
subcommittee chairwoman, Mrs. Brooks, for supporting my amendment. I
also look forward to continuing to work with both of you in the future
on other initiatives such as H.R. 3158, the SAFE in our Schools Act, to
ensure that the needs of our schoolchildren and other vulnerable
populations are adequately addressed in emergency preparedness and
response plans.
On behalf of the ranking member, Mr. Thompson, I would also like to
thank Chairman McCaul for working with us to reauthorize the
Metropolitan Medical Response System, the MMRS. This program provided
targeted grants to 124 highly populated jurisdictions to support the
integration of emergency management, health and medical systems into an
organized response to mass casualty events.
The program has not been funded since fiscal year 2011 and its
authorization has lapsed. I sincerely hope that the next time we meet
here on the House floor to address medical preparedness, it will be to
consider bipartisan reauthorization legislation for the MMRS. As State
and local governments continue to stretch their budgets to make up the
reduced Federal support across many programs, we must make sure that
the public health community is prepared and equipped to keep our
constituents safe.
I look forward to working with my ranking member and the majority to
ensure that MMRS remains a priority for this committee.
In the meantime, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1791. With
that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis),
the sponsor of this legislation.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. I must say, Madam Chair, you are doing an outstanding
job chairing this committee. Thank you for your help on this bill. I
also want to thank Mr. Payne. Your father would be very proud of you
today. He was a good friend of mine.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1791, the Medical Preparedness
Allowable Use Act, which amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to
make it clear that grant funds under the State Homeland Security Grant
Program and the Urban Area Security Initiative may be used to enhance
medical preparedness and purchase medical countermeasures.
I originally introduced the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act in
2012 after a series of hearings on medical countermeasures in the
Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness, Response, and Communications.
At these hearings, we received testimony from representatives of the
emergency response community on the importance of stockpiling medical
countermeasures in the event of a WMD attack. This includes pre-
deployed medical kits for first responders and their families similar
to those provided to postal workers participating in the national U.S.
Postal Medical Countermeasures Dispensing Pilot Program.
The grant guidance for the State Homeland Security Grant Program and
the Urban Area Security Initiative currently permits this funding to be
used to procure medical countermeasures and for other medical
preparedness and medical surge capacity equipment and activities.
However, this guidance is developed on an annual basis, as our chair
said, and there is no guarantee that these uses will be authorized in
the future. That is why this bill is so very important.
To be clear, no new funding is authorized in this bill. However,
these expenditures authorized and codified by the bill we are
considering today can make a big difference in the protection of the
public, including emergency responders, in the event of an attack, and
there should be no doubt that grant funding may be used to support them
now and in the future.
As the former chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness,
Response, and Communications, I consistently find myself in awe of our
first responders and the sacrifices that they make for the public. In
the wake of events such as Hurricane Sandy, I am committed to ensuring
Congress does all that it can to support those brave men and women.
I am pleased that this legislation is supported by the Emergency
Services Coalition on Medical Preparedness, which works to ensure that
we ``protect the protectors,'' and other agencies as well. I also thank
the ranking member for adding that great amendment because we must
protect our children as well.
I thank and commend, of course, Representative Susan Brooks, our
chair, for her assistance with this bill and for her willingness to
join me as an original cosponsor.
I urge all Members to support this great, very important bill.
Mr. PAYNE. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge passage of this measure as a small
step to address gaping needs at the State and local level when it comes
to medical preparedness.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1791, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman from Florida
[[Page H1520]]
noted in his statement, this bill passed the House the last Congress by
a bipartisan vote of 397-1. I hope Members will once again express
their support for the men and women who protect us every day by voting
for this bill.
I want to thank my ranking member for his dedication and his
commitment to protecting the protectors, as he so eloquently stated,
and we certainly request that our fellow Members support this bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1791,
the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act for two reasons.
First, the bill will save lives. Second, the legislation is necessary
to support the vital work of first responders in the event of a
biological and chemical terrorists attack or incident.
The legislation provides for the development and maintenance of an
initial pharmaceutical stockpile, including medical kits, and
diagnostics sufficient to protect first responders, their families, and
immediate victims from a chemical or biological event.
The Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act will amend the Homeland
Security Act of 2002 to authorize the use of Urban Area Security
Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program funding for
enhancing medical preparedness, medical surge capacity, and mass
prophylaxis capabilities.
This legislation ensures that first responders have necessary
medicines and treatments to protect themselves, their families and
those within their vicinity immediately should a biological and
chemical terrorist attack occurs.
In short, first responders will not be able to do the work of saving
lives if they fall victim to an attack or are distracted by worry
regarding how their family may be fairing during a biological or
chemical attack should one occur.
First responders often include law enforcement officers, fire
fighters, and emergency medical personnel.
The city of Houston covers over a 1000 square mile region in
Southeast Texas. It has an evening population of nearly two million
people and over three million during the day when commuters are in the
city.
There are 103 fire stations that serve the city of Houston with most
offering ambulance or medic support, but there is only one station,
Number 22, that specializes in hazardous material.
In the city of Houston one out of every ten citizens use Emergency
Management Services (EMS) and within a year there are over 200,000 EMS
incidents involving over 225,000 patients or potential patients.
EMS response services have 88 City of Houston EMS vehicles, with just
under fifty percent staffed by two paramedics and can provide Advanced
Life Support (ALS) to patients.
These consist of 15 ALS Squads, and 22 ALS transport units with eight
functioning in a ``Dual'' capacity as both Advanced Life Support and
Basic Life Support (BLS).
The remaining fifty-one transport units are Basic Life Support (BLS),
and staffed by two Emergency Medical Technicians.
Law enforcement agencies that serve the city of Houston include the
Houston Police Department, Harris County Sheriff's Department, Harris
County Constables, Port of Houston Authority Police and Corrections
Officers.
Because of the nature of chemical or biological terrorist attacks
mass casualties are the objective and the impressive resources of our
nation's 4th largest city would likely be overwhelmed immediately
should an attack occur it is important to provide them with the
resources provided by this legislation.
The prepositioning of resources in the form of medicines that can
support pulmonary respiratory function or arrest neurological damage as
a result of poisoning lives can be saved that could otherwise be lost.
This bill can reduce deaths and give victims the greatest chance for
survival and recovery.
Emergency responders because of this bill would have treatments in
the communities where they serve and live to help neighbors, coworkers,
and people who are immediate need to live saving help.
As a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I am
mindful of the need for our first responders to be prepared and well
trained to manage a wide range of potential threats both conventional
and unconventional.
This bill offers one more resource that will be available to first
responders to do the work they have dedicated their lives to doing--
saving lives.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1791, the Medical
Preparedness Allowable Use Act for two reasons.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 1791, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
____________________