Bioterriorism Bill would double to $3.2 Billion

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Bioterrorism Bill Would Double to $3.2 Billion What President Has Proposed

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators unveiled a bill Thursday calling for $3.2 billion to combat bioterrorism and expressed optimism President Bush would go along with it even though he's proposed spending about half as much.

The money would go for stockpiling vaccines and antibiotics, increasing food inspections, adding money to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and to help state and local governments plan for bioterrorism.

The bill was crafted by Sen. Bill Frist, the Senate's only doctor and a key Republican player on health care issues, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who chairs the Senate health committee. They discussed it at a news conference with several other senators from both parties.

Kennedy said the anthrax attack that has killed four people and disrupted large parts of the federal government showed that more needs to be done to combat bioterrorism.

"A larger attack could be a disaster for whole communities in America. We've had the clearest possible warning and we cannot afford to ignore it," he said.

Bush has not signed off on the measure, but administration officials were part of the discussions that produced the bill, said Frist, a close ally of the president on health care issues.

Amy Call, a spokeswoman for the White House budget office, confirmed the discussions and said the administration would work with Congress to pass a bioterrorism measure.

Kennedy, who earlier had called for spending $10 billion, said he expects the administration will support the measure. A bill introduced last month by House Democrats seeks $7 billion for bioterrorism.

Bush has proposed spending $1.5 billion, including $643 million to increase the stockpile of antibiotics and other medical supplies. An additional $509 million would pay for 300 million doses of smallpox vaccine.

Only a small fraction of the money would help state and local governments prepare for an attack. Some bioterrorism experts say federal medical supplies, drugs and experts would be useless if local authorities fail to spot an attack quickly.

The Senate legislation sets aside $1.1 billion to stockpile antibiotics and the smallpox vaccine, Frist said. An additional $1 billion would go to help state and local officials prepare for bioterrorist attacks with worker training, upgrading health care facilities and other initiatives.

The bill encourages states to come up with bioterrorism plans. Each would get at least $5 million in federal funds to help pay for them.

Janet Heinrich, who analyzes health care issues for the government's General Accounting Office, said Congress now spends only about $67 million on upgrading state and local bioterrorism preparedness efforts.

The CDC, which Bush toured last week, long has complained about its facilities, some of which are old and in need of repair.

As for food inspection, Frist said less than 1 percent of the food the United States imports is inspected. He said there are several biological agents that terrorists could try to put in food.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001


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