Tom Harkin: “last year, the weakness of our Nation's ability to respond to a bioterrorist attack was exposed. To properly prepare for…”

“last year, the weakness of our Nation's ability to respond to a bioterrorist attack was exposed. To properly prepare for the future, we must begin to think of our Nation's public health system as the front lines in our battle against terrorism. Unfortunately, our troops were inexperienced, our radar was out of date, and we were short on ammunition. Right now we don't have enough vaccines to protect every American. Public health officials were without the tools and training they need to detect an outbreak and rapidly respond. Prudence demanded action. That is why Senator Specter, Senator Byrd and I crafted and passed a $3.6 billion bioterrorism initiative to reverse this alarming trend. As a result of this effort, our Nation's defenses against bioterrorism has improved since September 11 and the anthrax attacks of last October, but much more still needs to be done. As chairman of the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, I held several hearings with a broad variety of people, ranging from leaders of the Federal Government to first responders to our local public health workers. As a conferee for the bioterrorism bill, I'm proud of the bipartisan work we have been able to achieve on this plan to boost our Nation's bioterrorism prevention and preparedness.”