[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19583-19584]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               PREPARING FOR BIOTERRORISM IN SOUTH DAKOTA

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues, 
Senator John Edwards, and Senator Chuck Hagel, in supporting 
legislation to help South Dakotans prepare for possible bioterrorist 
attacks. The recent example of anthrax being reported in Florida has 
highlighted the importance of being prepared to combat bioterrorism in 
our communities.
  Now this doesn't mean that everyone should run out and buy a gas 
mask. Successful attacks using germs and chemicals are relatively 
difficult to accomplish and rarely attempted.
  However, the nature of such an attack makes just one successful act 
of bioterrorism unique and incredibly damaging. For example, most of 
the germs involved in bioterrorism, anthrax and smallpox to name a few, 
are so rare that many medical professionals haven't treated them 
before. Symptoms may not be visible for days or weeks, and these 
diseases can be spread easily among people.
  In addition to threatening people, bioterrorism can also cripple our 
State's agriculture economy. We all saw this summer how the threat of 
foot-and-mouth disease in the United States can directly impact South 
Dakota's ag business.
  The risk of an agriculture terrorist attack poses a serious threat to 
our economy as well as our abundant food supply. An agricultural 
terrorist could introduce a pathogen to a certain crop and decimate 
that crop's yield. A quickly-spreading animal disease intentionally 
introduced could cause economic ruin to States that depend on revenues 
from the livestock industry.
  Earlier this week, the nonpartisan General Accounting Office, GAO, 
reported that coordination is fragmented between 40 Federal departments 
and agencies responsible for responding to a bioterrorist attack.
  The GAO report also noted insufficient State and local planning for 
response to terrorist attacks. In addition, while spending on domestic 
preparedness for terrorist attacks has risen 310 percent since 1998, 
only a portion of these funds were used to conduct research on and 
prepare for the public health and medical consequences of a 
bioterrorist attack.
  To better address the needs of State and local communities in dealing 
with the threat of bioterrorism, I recently joined Senators Edwards and 
Hagel on legislation called the Biological and Chemical Weapons 
Preparedness Act.
  Our legislation provides $1.6 billion in new resources for Federal, 
State, and local efforts, including $450 million specifically for 
agricultural counter-terrorism and food safety measures.
  Too often, bioterrorism funding has been tied up in the bureaucracy 
of Washington, and I'm pleased that our legislation sends over one-
third of these funds, $555 million, directly to States and local 
governments through new block grants. Our legislation gives States and 
local communities the resources to study the problems unique to them 
and implement appropriate solutions.
  Our legislation would accomplish six goals. First, we would provide 
training and equipment to State and local ``first responders,'' such as 
emergency medical personnel, law enforcement officials, fire fighters, 
physicians, and nurses, to recognize and respond to biological and 
chemical attacks
  Second, our bill strengthens the local public health network through 
increased training, coordination, and additional specialized equipment.
  Third, we protect food safety and the agricultural economy by 
providing assistance to States to better coordinate with law 
enforcement and public health officials, increase training and 
awareness among farmers and other agricultural stakeholders. Our 
measure would also give States the resources they need to establish 
emergency diagnostic facilities to work in conjunction with the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture's facility to quickly diagnose animal 
diseases. Along with this assistance to States, the measure would 
provide additional funds for the USDA's counterterrorism efforts.
  Fourth, the legislation assists local hospital emergency rooms with 
response training and biocontainment and decontamination capabilities.
  Fifth, we address the need to develop and stockpile vaccines and 
antibiotics.
  Finally, our Biological and Chemical Weapons Preparedness Act 
enhances disease surveillance between the Centers for Disease Control, 
CDC, and State and local public health services to provide electronic 
nationwide access to critical data, treatment guidelines, and alerts.
  Our legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions, and there have already been a handful 
of hearings held so far. I anticipate a number of

[[Page 19584]]

proposals, similar to ours, being discussed and a compromise ultimately 
being sent to the President this year.
  I will continue to work to ensure that the provisions in our 
legislation dealing with rural communities and agriculture remain in a 
final version that is signed into law by the President.

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