Judd Gregg: “I thank the staff of the HELP Committee, Vincent Ventimiglia and Sharon Soderstrom, Steve Irizarry, and the other…”

“I thank the staff of the HELP Committee, Vincent Ventimiglia and Sharon Soderstrom, Steve Irizarry, and the other members of the staff who have done a great job in pulling this legislation together and following it through the process. It has been a complicated, tortured, difficult exercise. It would not have gotten to this point without strong and effective staff work. The country owes them a debt of gratitude. In the end, this bill is going to be one of the major components of our ability to protect ourselves as we move through this world that has such fundamentally evil individuals in it who might actually use this type of weapon against us or anyone else. There will also be some side benefits to this initiative. I honestly believe as we evolve various vaccines and initiate this research effort in trying to address issues such as anthrax and botulism and plague, we will actually have some spinoffs that will be positive in other health areas, and specifically in ways to deliver these types of vaccines in a less intrusive way.”