Gus Bilirakis: “I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter) as well. I also want to thank the ranking member for doing such…”

“I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter) as well. I also want to thank the ranking member for doing such a great job and working on this piece of legislation. I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 361, the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act. This legislation would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to clarify that grant funds under the State Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Area Security Initiative may be used to enhance medical preparedness and purchase medical countermeasures. I originally introduced the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act in 2012 after a series of hearings on medical countermeasures when I proudly served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications. At these hearings, the need for this legislation was highlighted when we received numerous testimonies from the emergency response community on the importance of stockpiling medical countermeasures in the event of a WMD attack. This includes predeployed medical kits for first responders, as Mr. Carter said, their families, and immediate victims of widespread terrorist attacks on our homeland and natural disasters, resources similar to those provided to postal workers participating in the national U.S. Postal Medical Countermeasures Dispensing Pilot Program.…”