Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 115 Part 1.djvu/420

 115 STAT. 398 PUBLIC LAW 107-56 —OCT. 26, 2001 49 USC 5103a (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— There is authorized ^°^^- to be appropriated for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice such amounts as may be necessary to carry out section 5103a of title 49, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). SEC. 1013. EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE CONCERNING THE PROVISION OF FUNDING FOR BIOTERRORISM PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE. (a) FINDINGS. — The Senate fmds the following: (1) Additional steps must be taken to better prepare the United States to respond to potential bioterrorism attacks. (2) The threat of a bioterrorist attack is still remote, but is increasing for a variety of reasons, including— (A) public pronouncements by Osama bin Laden that it is his religious duty to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and biological weapons; (B) the callous disregard for innocent human life as demonstrated by the terrorists' attacks of September 11, 2001; (C) the resources and motivation of known terrorists and their sponsors and supporters to use biological warfare; (D) recent scientific and technological advances in agent delivery technology such as aerosolization that have made weaponization of certain germs much easier; and (E) the increasing access to the technologies and expertise necessary to construct and deploy chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. (3) Coordination of Federal, State, and local terrorism research, preparedness, and response programs must be improved. (4) States, local areas, and public health officials must have enhanced resources and expertise in order to respond to a potential bioterrorist attack. (5) National, State, and local communication capacities must be enhanced to combat the spread of chemical and biological illness. (6) Greater resources must be provided to increase the capacity of hospitals and local health care workers to respond to public health threats. (7) Health care professionals must be better trained to recognize, diagnose, and treat illnesses arising from biochemical attacks. (8) Additional supplies may be essential to increase the readiness of the United States to respond to a bio-attack. (9) Improvements must be made in assuring the safety of the food supply. (10) New vaccines and treatments are needed to assure that we have an adequate response to a biochemical attack. (11) Government research, preparedness, and response programs need to utilize private sector expertise and resources. (12) Now is the time to strengthen our public health system and ensure that the United States is adequately prepared to respond to potential bioterrorist attacks, natural infectious disease outbreaks, and other challenges and potential threats to the public health.

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