Sam Brownback: “I am here to address the Bioshield Act and particularly section 3 of that bill that directs the Secretary of Homeland…”

“I am here to address the Bioshield Act and particularly section 3 of that bill that directs the Secretary of Homeland Security on an ongoing basis to assess threats of use of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents and determine which threats pose a material risk of use against the U.S. population. I draw my colleagues' particular attention to what has recently been reported in the newspaper about one of the most recent uses of sarin gas that has occurred and its possibility of being used in the United States. I commend my colleagues for bringing this bill to the Senate, for a chance to talk about it. It is a very important issue. I see in this particular section our need to assess this. The discovery and confirmation of sarin gas in artillery shells in Iraq highlights evidence that Saddam Hussein had a weapons of mass destruction program that was not only fully operational but ready for use against U.S. troops.”