Political Quotes

“this morning the members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, HELP, voted to support the nomination of Dr. Richard Carmona for the position of U.S. Surgeon General. While the Surgeon General has played a major role on health care matters for more than one hundred years, the unique challenges confronting our Nation at the beginning of the 21st century require an elevated level of leadership. The threat of bioterrorism is real--a fact made clear in the last year as anthrax attacks killed five people, infected 22, and exposed hundreds. These attacks highlighted the inadequacy of our Nation's public health infrastructure to prevent, detect, and respond to an infectious disease outbreak, whether such an outbreak is intentionally or naturally caused. Since that time, much has taken place. We in Congress have passed, and the President has signed into law, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. We have significantly increased the Federal commitment to upgrading capacity in State and local health departments and we are now considering how a new Department of Homeland Security could enhance our efforts to prevent and respond to bioterrorism. Despite these steps, we are still not fully prepared to meet the threat of bioterrorism and much work remains to be done to bolster our public health system. This will be one of the most important tasks facing the country and facing the incoming Surgeon General.”