Sam Farr: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank my co-chair, the chair of the committee who we just heard from, Mr.…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank my co-chair, the chair of the committee who we just heard from, Mr. Kingston. We get along very well, and it's wonderful to work with him. But I'd also like to thank the chair of the committee, Mr. Rogers, and the ranking member, Mr. Dicks, for letting us do our work in a professional manner, a professional and intellectual manner, which I think is the way we want to have political compromise. You allowed us to do that work, and I think that this report is a good report, and that's why I'm asking my colleagues to support it. I didn't vote for the original bill; but this conference report is much better, and that's why I urge its support. There are many good things about this bill, especially in comparison to the version that originally passed the House last summer. I was very pleased that we were able to go to the Senate level for the Food and Drug Administration, which is an increase of about $334 million over the House bill because to increase the funding of FDA's important work on medical countermeasures, that is very important. Medical countermeasures is critical to America's ability to face down biological, radiological, and other similar widespread public health threats. Without it, we'd be vulnerable to germ warfare. That's why I advocate its robust funding. I might add, this isn't just science fiction that we see in movies. This is real, and this program is really vital to our future security.…”