Tom Harkin: “I wanted the amendment I sent to the desk read because I want those who are not here, who are maybe in their offices…”

“I wanted the amendment I sent to the desk read because I want those who are not here, who are maybe in their offices, and their staff to understand what it is. It is not that long of an amendment. It basically tracks what I said earlier in my opening statement. I wish to respond a little bit to what was said on the floor just a minute ago. First of all, I point out to the Senator from Alaska that maybe this might be more appropriate on the Labor-HHS bill, the Labor- Health and Human Services appropriations bill. I remind people, tomorrow is the end of the fiscal year. They have not brought the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill to the floor. We do not know if they are ever going to bring it to the floor. So we do not have an opportunity to offer it there. The Defense authorization bill was up, and they took that off the floor. So I have not had an opportunity to offer it there. Now we have Defense appropriations. Quite frankly, this is about defense. It is about defending our people--not against a terrorist but against terrorism, the terrorism of an avian flu pandemic. That is what this is about. Now, I heard the Senator talk about BioShield. Well, I think maybe we ought to understand that BioShield money cannot be used for this because BioShield money can only be used for drugs for which there is no commercial market. Obviously there is a great commercial market for Tamiflu.…”