FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 15, 2001
LARSON MUNICIPAL PREPARATION BILL INCLUDED AS PART OF MAJOR BIOTERRORISM PROTECTION LEGISLATION
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) today announced that his Municipal Preparation and Strategic Response Act, H.R. 3161, has been included in H.R. 3255, the Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2001 (BioPAct). The Bioterrorism Protection Act was recently introduced into the House of Representatives by Rep. Robert Menendez (NJ-13) on behalf of the Democratic Homeland Security Task Force. Larson, a member of the Task Force, successfully included $1 billion in funding for local communities for strategic emergency response planning, counter-terrorism training, and equipment for local law enforcement agencies and firefighters.
Larson stated: “I am proud to have contributed provisions in the Bioterrorism Protection Act that will aid local governments, fire departments, police forces, emergency medical responders, and hospitals who constitute our first line of defense against terrorism. Municipal and regional emergency responders are the first on the scene following catastrophes - before FEMA, before the FBI and before the U.S. military, and they must have the training, equipment, planning strategies, and communication capabilities to most effectively contend with an act of terrorism. In cooperation with other municipalities and regional government, cities and towns must rely on their own resources when responding to disasters during the first critical 12 to 24 hours, and this funding will help shoulder the costs for further training, equipment and communications strategies to ensure each and every town is well prepared.”
The provisions from Larson's bill were included as sections of the Bioterrorism Protection Act, which is a $7 billion initiative intended to improve America's public health infrastructure to counter potential bioterrorist attacks. The bill is also designed to improve law enforcement and the intelligence and military community's ability to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism.
Attached is a summary of the BioPAct as it was introduced:
HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS - HOMELAND SECURITY TASK FORCE
THE BIOTERRORISM PROTECTION ACT (BioPAct) of 2001
A $7 Billion Pact with America
PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESPONSE TO BIOTERRORISM $3.5 billion
Improving Community Emergency Response Capacity and Preparedness -- ($1 billion)
Increasing hospital capacity, educating medical personnel, increasing nursing and clinical lab personnel, and providing training to first responders.
Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Vaccines and Treatments for All Americans -- ($1.4 billion)
Increasing the national stockpile of anthrax antibiotics, developing and acquiring additional doses of smallpox vaccines, researching and developing new vaccines and antibiotics, training and equipping health professionals to provide antibiotics and vaccines, and expediting FDA approval of new products.
Enhancing Community Planning and Intergovernmental Coordination --($600 million)
Providing planning grants to local communities and health care providers to develop emergency response plans that meet certain minimum federal guidelines, requiring states to submit medical response plans to the federal government, funding state trauma care systems, and strengthening intergovernmental coordination.
Enhancing Surveillance, Improving Communications, and Strengthening Technology Infrastructure -- ($500 million)
Improving state and local surveillance, training health care personnel in the detection of illnesses related to biological attacks, upgrading laboratories, ensuring a 24-hour public health system is available to local providers, improving and expanding CDC surveillance capabilities, building local technology and communication systems, enhancing communications among agencies, and requiring state and federal agencies to share with first responders important information about the potential dangers of an emergency site.
PROTECTING OUR FOOD AND WATER -- $800 million
Keeping Our Food Safe -- ($725 million)
Protecting crops and livestock through increased surveillance and research, strengthening both physical and information security at key agricultural facilities, increasing inspections of imported food shipments with additional inspectors, increasing the inspections of domestic production plants, coordinating and testing federal emergency response plans, and helping states track food-borne agents.
Keeping Our Water Supply Safe -- ($75 million)
Reviewing emergency preparedness and vulnerabilities of water systems, providing resources to address deficiencies in security, developing improved monitoring systems to track water quality, improving security of information systems, improving security of water-bottling facilities, and implementing background checks for quality testers at treatment plants and bottling facilities.
ENHANCING LAW ENFORCEMENT'S ABILITY TO PROTECT THE NATION -- $870 million
Providing the right tools to law enforcement agencies -- ($275 million)
Expanding federal authority over biological agents and toxins; establishing new criminal offenses involving the possession and unsafe handling of biological agents; developing and deploying new screening hardware, software, computer infrastructure, and training to support biometric technology; creating new COPS grants to local communities for counter-terrorism training and equipment; giving grants to local governments for strategic planning and intergovernmental coordination related to terrorism preparedness and response; providing funds to eliminate the backlog of convicted offender DNA samples yet to be entered in the FBI database.
Securing Our Borders at Land and Sea -- ($345 million)
Increasing the size of the United States Border Patrol Force and the number of INS and Customs Inspectors at ports of entry; implementing biometric scanning techniques at border checkpoints; funding development and deployment of scanning technology capable of detecting explosive devices, biological and chemical contaminants; mandating better INS tracking of visas and integrating visa monitoring with federal watch lists; providing Coast Guard with enhanced training and equipment.
Addressing Threats to Mail Delivery Services -- ($250 million)
Developing and deploying faster scanning technologies, implementing improved mail tracking abilities to track suspicious packages to their source, and investigating procedures to treat mail and mitigate threats posed by contaminated mail.
STRENGTHENING OUR INTELLIGENCE THROUGH FULL COORDINATION -- $1.1 billion
Improving Organization and Coordination of Intelligence Community -- ($270 million)
Conducting a threat assessment to identify vulnerabilities and provide a basis for a national strategy for homeland security; removing barriers to efficient information sharing between intelligence collection and information use by law enforcement and first responders; conducting a public education campaign to alert Americans to the threat and appropriate responses for biological weapons.
Improving Intelligence Capabilities -- ($850 million)
Deploying biological and chemical detectors for site analysis, continual surveillance of fixed sites, and improved identification of foreign biological agent possession; increasing language translation skills and improving usage of language resources across agencies; increasing human intelligence assets.
THE MILITARY: PREPARING, RESPONDING & ASSISTING COMMUNITIES -- $720 million
Initial Crisis Response and First Responder Support -- ($420 million)
Increasing military domestic crisis response teams, creating and training additional Civil Support Teams, and training and equipping military and civilian emergency responders with interoperable communications equipment.
Interagency Crisis and Consequence Management Exercises -- ($100 million)
Implementing a uniform government-wide evaluation system to ensure proficiency and achievement of military domestic crisis response, increasing training of military personnel for response to weapons of mass destruction incidents, and increasing resources for military involvement in consequence and crisis management exercises.
Research and Development -- ($100 million)
Accelerating technology development in chemical and biological research (prevention and treatment), advanced sensors, and other promising technologies.
Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) -- ($100 million)
Securing the supply of biological and chemical weapons-grade material from the former Soviet Union, improving Russian and former Soviet Union border and export controls, and increasing support for the Material Protection, Control and Accounting Program.
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