[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             FLU OUTBREAKS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we were all saddened this morning to 
hear that a Texas child has died from the recent outbreak of the H1N1 
flu. This is a very worrisome situation, and we are all following it 
very closely.
  Yesterday, Secretary Napolitano briefed Republicans on this matter, 
and we appreciate the administration's coordination with Congress. The 
administration has said that it currently has all the personnel and 
equipment it needs to handle the situation, but going forward, Congress 
is prepared to work on the request for additional funds in the 
supplemental.
  I would note that Congress is in a much better position to deal with 
outbreaks such as this as a result of the hard work of Senator Burr and 
others, who have done a great deal on the issue of biopreparedness and 
on coordinating all of the relevant Government agencies. We stand ready 
to closely work with the administration to protect the American people 
as this situation unfolds.

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