[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21383-21386]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      PROTECTING THE PUBLIC HEALTH

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I am rising in support of the motion of my 
colleague from North Carolina to pass the bioterrorism and BARDA 
legislation. It is vital we pass this bill before we adjourn because 
our Nation's biopreparedness should be strengthened now and not put off 
until some distant time in the future. I urge all Members to support 
this motion and the bipartisan bill.
  As chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and 
Pensions, I know this issue has been a priority of both Democrats and 
Republicans on the committee. Senator Burr is the chairman of the 
committee's Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health 
Preparedness. It has been clear to me that he has directed a very open 
process that sought to get input from all stakeholders. In the past 2 
years he has held at least eight hearings and roundtables on this 
subject, with witnesses representing a wide range of views and 
opinions. I also know that he held a lot of meetings with stakeholders, 
people who had an interest in this bill and ideas on this bill. He also 
hired some extremely professional staff with a lot of experience who 
could provide input and work to find those third ways of doing things 
when things were difficult. I have been pleased with the bipartisan 
effort and bicameral effort that he has made on this bill: to keep the 
House folks educated on what we were doing, to try to keep the Senate 
educated on what we were doing.
  The substance of this bill, accordingly, represents a consensus of 
what public health officials, experts, and public policy groups from 
around the Nation believe needs to be done immediately to protect the 
public health of our Nation's families and workers. While we have made 
remarkable strides in our efforts to identify and address our Nation's 
weaknesses to biological threats, the fact remains that our defense on 
these fronts is far from perfect. Despite our best efforts in Congress, 
and the administration's efforts, there are holes we must fill if we 
are going to adequately ensure our safety. Senator Burr has worked 
tirelessly in a bipartisan fashion in the HELP Committee to examine 
these conditions and construct a solution to appropriately address the 
current shortcomings of our biodefense. The product of that work is now 
the subject of this motion, and it deserves our support.
  Before we go home we all want to be able to tell our families and 
workers that we are taking all steps necessary to protect us from a 
natural, an accidental, or a deliberate public health threat. 
Supporting Mr. Burr's motion this morning is an essential step toward 
enacting these protections.
  The bill has two distinct parts. The first part is the creation of a 
new authority built upon the highly successful Department of Defense's 
defense advanced research projects. This authority would encourage the 
development of new bioterrorism countermeasures. It is a look into the 
future; a way to figure out, before it happens, what needs to be 
developed using experts who can then encourage people to develop those 
products.
  The second part is the reauthorization of the Bioterrorism Act. Both 
parts are necessary to ensure our Nation's biodefense security. A few 
years ago we had hoped that, through the creation of the bioshield 
fund, the pharmaceutical industry would create the drugs necessary to 
protect Americans. We cannot close our eyes and pray they have done 
what we hoped. They have not. The pharmaceutical industry is not 
commercializing enough drugs to fight infections diseases, whether they 
are spread naturally or through the effort of man.
  The rise in the incidence of antibiotic-resistant strains of diseases 
and the possible specter of bird flu is very disturbing and demands our 
immediate attention. It is clear that without the passage of this 
legislation little will change.
  The bill before us addresses this deficiency in a very similar 
strategy and process that we have seen to be effective with the Army 
through DARPA. By applying the successes of the DARPA programs to 
bioterrorism, we hope we can spur the industry to address this urgent 
need.
  It is not clear if this step is enough, but it is clear if we do 
nothing, nothing will change.
  The second portion of this bill also is vital to our biodefense 
preparedness. This part would reauthorize the Bioterrorism Act. To be 
clear, the Bioterrorism Act, which we passed after the anthrax attacks, 
was a giant step forward. The law has done a tremendous amount to help 
State and local governments prepare. However, at the same time, the 
specter of a pandemic bird flu was not on the horizon. In addition, we 
have learned a lot from the biohazard experience after the effects of 
Hurricane Katrina in the gulf coast.
  More needs to be done to assure that State and local public health 
agencies know exactly what needs to be done and how they should be 
prepared.
  The bill strengthens what we have already started to do and gives us 
the flexibility to prevent biological events from happening in the 
future. We cannot put off for another day the vital biodefense 
preparedness provisions contained in this bill. Our families and 
workers need this help today.
  I urge my colleagues to support the motion. I support my colleague 
from the State of North Carolina as he tries to address this 
legislation immediately. I thank him for all of his hard work to get us 
here today.
  I have not seen anybody dig into an issue to the level that he has, 
to get the expertise that he has in a very difficult area. We were 
pleased when he came over from the House to be part of the Senate and 
brought the expertise on this kind of bill with him. He has done a 
tremendous job, and I appreciate the way he has reached out to get 
something done.
  It is my understanding that there might be an objection to going 
ahead and doing this today. Normally, at this point we would read a 
unanimous consent request to get on the bill, but it is my 
understanding that no one is going to come down from the other side of 
the aisle to object, and I can tell you I am not going to object to 
that on anybody's behalf.
  Civility in the Senate says if the other side doesn't show up to 
object, somebody is supposed to object on their behalf. I am not going 
to do that. Instead, I am going to put off the request until later, 
until somebody can actually be here to object because I have difficulty 
imagining that people would object to this kind of national security at 
this point in the history of the United States.
  So with that announcement, I will allocate the remainder of the time 
to the chairman, who has been working diligently on this bill, and let 
him give a few more informational views and comments and allocate the 
rest of the time.
  I thank Senator Burr for his tremendous efforts, the tremendous work 
that has gone on up to this point. We do need to finish it now.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized. There is 12 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I thank the chairman of the committee, and I 
also thank the ranking member, Senator Kennedy, who has been extremely 
helpful throughout this whole process. If it were left up to the three 
of us, this bill would have become law and would have been signed by 
the President

[[Page 21384]]

months ago, because in fact 50 percent of this bill was passed 
unanimously in the House of Representatives. But as you begin to see 
now the interest of my colleagues who think this is a vehicle leaving 
the Senate, some of the amendments that have popped up are not even 
germane to the issue of what we are here to talk about.
  More importantly, I think we need to focus on why we are here--
because of the threat of terrorism, the power of Mother Nature, what we 
have learned from the destruction of Katrina, what we continue to hear 
from the voices of individuals whose intent is every day to kill 
Americans.
  This morning, the World Health Organization confirmed that the H5N1 
bird flu strain has mutated. As you know, we don't have a vaccine 
today, but we are desperately trying to get there.
  This Congress has made some exceptions as it relates to our 
development of a vaccine for pandemic flu because of the urgency. Yet, 
they do not see the same urgency as it relates to e. coli, or smallpox, 
or anthrax, or the ability to genetically modify any of them to 
overcome anything that we might have in our arsenal to defeat them 
today. Yet this morning the World Health Organization announced that in 
areas of China they have established that bird flu has mutated. That 
mutation means we do not have a vaccine; it means that the antivirals 
Tamiflu and Relenza that we have don't protect against this strain. It 
means we are completely unprotected.
  In addition to that, reported today by the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, 
he put out an audio message that said this: ``We are in urgent need for 
you as American bases are the perfect place for nonconventional 
experiments of biologic and dirty warfare.''
  But some argue that is not a real threat, that al-Qaida never 
participated in that. However, this quote is from the head of al-Qaida 
calling on his brothers, his scientists, to bring their research and 
development and see how well it works. If it can be used there, it can 
be used here.
  In this bill, our attempt was to make sure that we have in place a 
robust research and development process that is focused on threats that 
might be intentional, threats that might be accidental, or threats that 
are natural. We certainly saw the power of the natural threats 1 year 
ago with Hurricane Katrina. As we sit here almost on the fifth 
anniversary of the anthrax attacks on the Congress, I think it is worth 
reminding our colleagues that this threat hasn't gone away. This threat 
continues yet today, and 5 years later we do not have the vaccines and 
drugs to defeat these threats. And if in fact terrorists have spent any 
time to genetically modify it, we have to question whether we have an 
antiviral capability to treat individuals who are infected and reverse 
that course and make sure there is no loss of life.
  We are headed into a new season of pandemic flu. As that season 
starts and we detect those infected birds, how long will it be before 
one bird finds the shore of the United States, be it through Canada or 
Alaska?
  We need to continue. We need to pass this legislation, We need to 
catch up with what the House did this week.
  Members will come to the floor and say, ``We didn't debate it enough; 
we didn't have enough hearings; my voice wasn't heard.'' Let me assure 
you I have reached out to every Member of this body. I have 
continuously solicited their input, and most of that is incorporated 
into this bill. I will assure you there has been some input that I 
could not accept in the bill because it wouldn't maintain what we tried 
to accomplish; that is, to assure the American people we are doing 
everything within our power to make sure they are safe.
  The legislation we have developed focuses on strategies to address 
public health and medical needs of at-risk individuals. Every person in 
this body learned after Hurricane Katrina that we have to better 
prepare to meet the needs of at-risk individuals, children and older 
Americans, in a totally different way than our current response plans. 
In our bill, we require that to be part of our national preparedness 
goals. We set up an at-risk individuals advisory committee to 
continually remind those responsible for responding to disasters of 
what in fact they need to do for at-risk populations.
  In addition, we require of every State emergency response plan to 
incorporate at-risk individuals into their plans. We have not left them 
behind. We have made them a centerpiece of our focus in this 
legislation.
  We also strengthen the State and local public health infrastructure 
in this bill by reauthorizing over $1 billion a year in Federal funding 
for grants from Health and Human Services for public health and medical 
preparedness.
  The last thing we do, which I will focus on, is the single most 
important thing in this bill. We put somebody in charge. We made one 
individual responsible for the health care response of the Federal 
Government. And where we had those responsibilities fragmented before, 
with the help of the chairman of the Department of Homeland Security 
Appropriations Committee, we began to move those things. And where 
there needed to be greater consultation with agencies such as the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, we built in that 
concentration.
  I am convinced that with one person in charge when there is another 
disaster in America, we will not have fingerpointing. We will know 
exactly who to go to and who to hold responsible for execution of the 
plan, for creation of the plan, but, more importantly for how that plan 
dovetails with 50 State plans, thousands of communities, regardless of 
what the threat is, whether it be natural, intentional, or accidental.
  We truly have lived up to what the chairman of the committee asked us 
to do--that was create the ability for an all-hazards response. Don't 
put us in a situation where we create something for a known threat only 
to have to go back and recreate the wheel when all of a sudden a threat 
appears that we didn't anticipate. This sets up a framework that allows 
us to do that.
  It is my hope that later today the chairman will offer a unanimous 
consent request. I believe it will be objected to, but we will continue 
to try to improve our security level and put in place these changes so 
that the American people have that comfort of knowing we are doing our 
job.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is advised that under the 
unanimous consent order currently only a member of the majority who is 
allocated time without a unanimous consent request is Senator Craig of 
Idaho. The Senator could be recognized by virtue of another unanimous 
consent request.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I commend the chairman of the HELP 
Committee, Chairman Enzi, and Senator Burr, who is the energy and 
author of this bill.
  I don't think there is a bill that comes to this floor that isn't 
important. Obviously, it wouldn't make it to this point in legislation. 
So calling something ``important'' becomes sort of a common phrase 
around here. But when you are talking about the issue of whether 
America is prepared for either a pandemic flu, or a terrorist attack 
using a biological agent which could threaten thousands and thousands--
potentially tens of thousands--of Americans, you are talking about 
something that is really important. Senator Burr has focused on this 
issue.
  We have in place laws that Senator Enzi and I helped structure a few 
years ago on Bioshield, to try to get this process started of getting 
ready for that kind of a biological attack. But the process didn't work 
the way it was supposed to work. It wasn't getting the industry 
involved, which has been devastated in our country--literally wiped out 
for all intents and purposes--by lawsuits. It was not willing to get 
started up again because they didn't feel there was, first, an adequate

[[Page 21385]]

source of resources in the area of dealing with a biological attack 
and, secondly, they feared the huge potential liability that might fall 
on them for the production of what would be not a major item within 
their market.
  Senator Burr has spent a year addressing these issues: How do we get 
more manufacturers and more entrepreneurs and more medical specialists 
into the business of developing and being positioned to develop 
vaccines which will deal with potential pandemic flu or a terrorist 
attack.
  In addition, he recognized that is not enough, that you have to get 
the communities--especially State and local communities--thinking about 
how they will handle a situation where they may have literally tens of 
thousands of people they have to care for all at once, that type of a 
surge, or that they have to isolate from the community. The Federal 
Government clearly wasn't orchestrated correctly. It was diffused, as 
Senator Burr pointed out, as to who was responsible and how these plans 
were going to be developed.
  This piece of legislation has evolved here through a superior 
exercise in legislative activity by Senator Burr and Senator Enzi, 
chairman of the full committee, in a bipartisan effort, a bicameral 
effort to address these very significant problems which we have found 
within our health care delivery system when it comes to dealing with a 
potential threat of a pandemic event or biological event.
  This legislation should be passed. There is no reason it shouldn't 
pass. It passed in the House overwhelmingly. It came out of our 
committee unanimously. There is no reason it should not move across 
this floor. The other side of the aisle may have a couple of 
reservations about it. There is plenty of time to go back and address 
those if those reservations have any legs. But the point is the basic 
legislation here is excellent, it is agreed to, it is bipartisan but, 
most importantly and most significantly, it is needed now.
  Obviously, we hope we don't get hit with a pandemic flu, but we have 
to start getting ready now if that happens. We can never predict when a 
terrorist attack is going to occur. Should it occur with biological 
weapons, we need to get ready now for that. This bill does that.
  I congratulate the Senator from North Carolina, and I congratulate 
the chairman of the committee, a superb chairman, who did a great job. 
But the smartest thing he did was to turn it over to the Senator from 
North Carolina to straighten it out. This is a good bill and should be 
passed. I hope the Senate will pass it today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. COBURN. I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, first, I thank Senator Burr. Senator Burr 
and I served on the Commerce and Health committees in the House 
together. He also served on Intelligence in the House, and we have his 
expertise, his experience, and his tremendous insight into what needs 
to be done, and the risks.
  I find it ironic that since we talk about all the issues that face 
our country in terms of risk, this is potentially one of the most 
deadly risks our country faces--not just from a natural occurrence such 
as bird flu but from the intentional use of manipulating biological, of 
manipulating viruses and bacteria. We know the intent of the people we 
are now fighting. It is to use fully any means at any time in any way 
to cause great disruption not only to the lives of Americans but on the 
economy of America.
  The fact that someone would hold up this bill to give us the 
capability to direct resources to become prepared says one of two 
things: Either they don't believe there is a real threat either from 
Mother Nature or the leaders of the ``Islamo-fascist'' terrorists who 
want to attack us today or that they think we are prepared. And we are 
not prepared.
  We heard Senator Gregg talk about the vaccine industry. We need a 
program to redevelop our capabilities. I am a practicing physician. 
What we do know is vaccine costs are higher today because we have no 
industry. We have a limited supply of vaccine manufacturers. We need 
research into vaccines at every area of every virus and every bacteria 
that could possibly be used against us, and then we need a way to get 
that out and a way to utilize it. We need research into new antiviral 
drugs for many of the viruses that could be posed as a biological 
weapon against this country.
  I find it ironic, kind of like last night, we are trying to do 
something for victims of HIV, and those who want to object will not 
come to the floor and object; they want to hide in secrecy. They do not 
want to say what is really wrong. What they want to do is stop the 
process, hold up the process, and not accept the responsibility. There 
is no one in this Senate who holds up more things than I do, but 
everybody knows that I am the person doing it and they know why I do 
it.
  This is within the responsibility of the Federal Government. It is 
within the priority of making a decision on where we spend money and 
what should be spent first. Protecting this country should be one of 
the No. 1 things we do. Protecting the lives of American citizens 
should be one of the No. 1 things we do.
  To not come here and defend why we think this bill is not 
appropriate, to not come here and stand up and take credit for stopping 
prevention of accidents and terrorism in this country says a whole lot 
about the lack of transparency in this Senate. They should come to the 
Senate and say what is wrong and why they object. We should have a 
debate. If they want to object after that, let them do it. But to not 
come to the floor to make a formal objection as a courtesy to Senator 
Enzi, who does respect the rights of other Members of this Senate, it 
means those Members who will not come hide in the shadows, and the 
American people do not get to know what others might think is wrong 
with proceeding. That does an injustice to the country and to this 
Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I don't see additional Members in the 
Senate, so I will take the opportunity to ask unanimous consent to 
address the Senate for 5 minutes. If I do see additional Members 
seeking recognition, I will certainly accommodate them.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I was reminded, as Dr. Coburn spoke, that we 
do have a blueprint that guides us as it relates to pandemic flu. It is 
``The Great Influenza.'' Most of us in the Senate were not here in 
1918. I daresay we have few Members who were here at that time. This 
book is the greatest recap of what happened at that time and the 
significant impact on the lives of the American people and how many 
individuals died. Unlike what we might expect in a flu season, those 
affected were not the old and at risk. They were the young and healthy. 
They were the ones who were attacked with this case of pneumonia which 
was a strain which could not be overcome with any medicine they had 
available.
  One walks away from this historical lesson realizing, if we think it 
could happen--which nobody questions--then we should do everything 
within our means to make sure we are not left in the same position we 
were in 1918 with no stable of products to defeat this virus.
  What do we do in this bill? We develop a partnership between the 
Federal Government and private companies, between the Federal 
Government and academic institutions, between the Federal Government 
and any researcher who might have research that leads us to believe 
they might hold the key to a cure. We enter into that partnership with 
the belief that as long as the research and development shows promise 
in the right direction, we will continue to be a good partner, but if 
at any point, in real time, we see it is not headed where we want, we 
stop our funding. We are fiscally responsible.
  We make sure one person is in charge of the health response in the 
United

[[Page 21386]]

States versus a multitude of individuals at multiple agencies. For the 
first time, this country would have an approach to our health response 
and to our development of antivirals and vaccines to defeat these 
agents that is not limited to one area but covers all hazards.
  We build on the State preparedness plans. We do not trump the State 
plan. We do not create two separate plans. We integrate into that State 
plan to make sure we are there to support the replenishment of 
supplies, with the logistic needs. We have to make sure, in fact, that 
in the first 72 hours after a disaster, individuals feel the full 
effects of local, State, and Federal resources.
  We rebuild the public health infrastructure in America. I challenge 
anyone to look at the community they live in and compare the public 
health infrastructure they grew up with to the one they have today. It 
is impossible to believe we can have a nationwide plan of response if, 
in fact, our public health infrastructure varies as greatly as it does 
today from the inoculation point for low-income children to the only 
place, in some cases, where health care can be delivered.
  We strengthen our surveillance, which, as we look at the bird flu, is 
absolutely crucial, our ability to identify at the earliest possible 
point whether, in fact, an infection and a threat is alive and well.
  We allow for the surge capacity of health care professionals. I see 
my colleague from Louisiana is in the Senate. She would be the first to 
know that one of the challenges when Katrina dramatically affected this 
country was that health care professionals around the country who 
intended to go to Louisiana and supply that very important medical 
surge capacity had a licensing problem in Louisiana. I forget the exact 
reason. But the question is, How can we overcome this challenge in the 
future? We create in this bill a voluntary network that health care 
professionals can sign in to get their credentials verified ahead of 
time, where the United States can then deploy these approved health 
care professionals on a moment's notice without any additional hurdles.
  I see my colleagues. Since we do have individuals who could execute 
their objection, it would probably be an appropriate time to offer the 
unanimous-consent request.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina controls the 
floor.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous-consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Unanimous-Consent Request--S. 3678

  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous-consent that the HELP 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 3678 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I also ask unanimous-
consent that the substitute at the desk be agreed to; the bill, as 
amended, be read the third time and passed, and the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I ask 
unanimous-consent that the majority leader, with the concurrence of the 
Democratic leader, may at any time turn to the consideration of S. 
3678; that it be considered under the following limitations: that the 
managers' amendment be withdrawn and a managers' amendment that has 
been agreed to by both managers and both leaders be agreed to for 
purposes of the original text; that the first-degree amendments deal 
with similar subject matter as contained in the text of the bill, 
except where noted; and that relevant second-degree amendments be in 
order thereto. The amendments are as follows: Durbin, single food 
agency; Conrad, national emergency telehealth task force; Lieberman, 
at-risk populations; Lautenberg, mass-transit preparedness; Wyden, 
FOIA; Leahy, compensation fund; Dorgan, one amendment; Leahy, two 
amendments; Obama, one amendment; Levin, one amendment; that in 
addition to any time limits on amendments, there be 6 hours of debate 
on the bill----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's unanimous-consent request is out 
of order by merely reserving the right to object. The Senator has to 
object to the pending unanimous-consent request by the Senator from 
North Carolina.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I ask 
unanimous-consent to modify the request of the Senator from North 
Carolina with another unanimous-consent request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. As the Chair understands it, the Senator from 
Washington would still have to object to the pending unanimous-consent 
request in order to make it a substitute.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I believe the other Senator will have to object to my 
request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. If the Senator would pause, is the Senator's 
second request to modify the pending unanimous-consent request of the 
Senator from North Carolina?
  Mrs. MURRAY. That is correct.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That would be in order.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask consent to modify the unanimous-consent request of 
the Senator from North Carolina to the extent I just outlined, and also 
I add that there be 6 hours for debate on the bill to be equally 
divided between the two leaders or their designees; and that upon the 
disposition of these amendments and the use or yielding back of time, 
the Senate bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on 
passage of the bill.
  I ask unanimous-consent that the Senator from North Carolina modify 
his request to include this consent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the motion?
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as Members 
may have missed the over 30 minutes many of us have been in the Senate 
Chamber, a significant amount of time and effort has gone into this 
bill. A very general solicitation and at times a very specific 
solicitation for input has been sought from my colleagues, without a 
response.
  Yesterday, a list of possible amendments was supplied. Most of those 
amendments were not even applicable to what is in the bill. We are not 
in a position right now to know what the specific modifications are 
that are being suggested, since we have not seen the actual amendments. 
Therefore, I object to the unanimous-consent request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Knowing they would object to our asking for a number of 
our Senators to be allowed to have amendments, I object to the 
Senator's request as well.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard to both the 
modification and the original unanimous-consent request.
  The Senator from Louisiana is recognized for 10 minutes.

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