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Project Bioshield
The Washington Post ^ | May 24, 2004 | Masthead Editorial

Posted on 05/24/2004 8:29:24 PM PDT by neverdem

IT IS EXCEEDINGLY rare these days to find something that the House and the Senate, the Republicans and the Democrats, can all agree on. But after the Senate's final passage of the Project Bioshield bill last week -- by a vote of 99 to 0 -- it seems that there really is near-unanimous, bipartisan support for speeding up development and stockpiling of the vaccines, antidotes and diagnostic devices that could be used to deter or help cope with a biological terrorist attack in the United States. The bill, a version of which was passed by a comparable margin in the House, provides $5.6 billion in funding over the next decade for purchasing vaccines and other medicines. It also streamlines research procedures and in a national emergency allows the government to distribute treatments that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Fine. But now that Congress has demonstrated its enthusiasm for biodefense, it's time to get a lot more ambitious. Administration officials such as Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, and Tommy Thompson, the health and human services secretary, consistently say that they take the bioterror threat seriously. Yet of the 57 countermeasures that the Defense Science Board listed in 2000 as necessary to protect the country against known bioterror agents, only two are available.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Anthrax Scare; Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: biologicalterrorist; biologicalwarfare; bioterrorism; cipro; projectbioshield; terrorism

1 posted on 05/24/2004 8:29:24 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

yeah, because when it comes down to Congress saving their OWN asses, you'll never see a NAY vote. Disgusting.


2 posted on 05/24/2004 8:32:17 PM PDT by rocky88 ("It's goin to be the summer of George! (W. Bush, that is!)")
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To: rocky88

Isn't this a vote that J. F'n K. missed?


3 posted on 05/24/2004 8:39:46 PM PDT by Socratic (Yes, there is method in the madness.)
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To: Socratic
Isn't this a vote that J. F'n K. missed?

Yeah, he is the one OBVIOUSLY not at work.

But he probably would have voted for it before he voted against it.

Or maybe against it before he voted for it.

Never mind.

4 posted on 05/24/2004 9:02:22 PM PDT by CPOSharky (Those terrorists must be real "he-men" if a pair of panties puts them over the edge.)
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To: neverdem

The Democrats are very strong on the matter of cleaning up the aftermath that they are hellbent on creating.


5 posted on 05/24/2004 9:09:24 PM PDT by Jim_Curtis
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To: neverdem

Thank you for posting this. I was just telling my husband the other day about the "Are you Ready for Bio Terror Threats" billboards I've seen around the valley here in So. CA: in first English, then Spanish. I'm glad Congress takes some of this seriously, these intelligence estimates of the summer of terror.


6 posted on 05/24/2004 9:14:59 PM PDT by cgk (Social Security: America's only legal Pyramid Scheme.)
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To: Jim_Curtis
Jiminey - that almost sounds like a Kerry waffle.

I created it before I destroyed it.

7 posted on 05/24/2004 9:16:25 PM PDT by cgk (Social Security: America's only legal Pyramid Scheme.)
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To: neverdem

Anytime Congress votes unanimously, you know they have just dumped a load of crap on us.


8 posted on 05/24/2004 10:52:48 PM PDT by edger (A)
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To: rocky88
It's amazing what can get done when Congress is the front line for the consequences if things aren't done. How about reconvening the Senate in Iraq and scheduling the vote on returning home immediately after the floor vote on all of Bush's pending appointments! We could say it was to offer the Iraqi's an example of how our system worked. A group of 100 close friends should be able to camp out together without fancy accommodations. They certainly could stay dry so as not to offend local sensibilities (Teddy will probably go into DTs, but who'd notice.) Let Sen. Byrd opine on the historic nature of a 100 Senator working junket. I sure he can find something in his wardrobe suitable to the local fashions. Drag along the network anchors. Let them show anything they want to cover, personally. By the time they leave we won't recognize any of them.
9 posted on 05/24/2004 11:16:28 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (I)
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To: fourdeuce82d; Travis McGee; El Gato; JudyB1938; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; ...

PING

If you're not registered at WaPo because you don't want to, I've assured you can avoid that by using BugMeNot.com


10 posted on 05/24/2004 11:30:32 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

I've assured = I've been assured, i.e. other folks told me it works.


11 posted on 05/24/2004 11:34:26 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

BugMeNot.com didn't seem to work for me.


12 posted on 05/24/2004 11:45:59 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: neverdem; All
Nuclear, Biological, & Chemical Warfare- Survival Skills, Pt. II
13 posted on 05/25/2004 12:11:57 AM PDT by backhoe (--30--)
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To: backhoe

Thanks for the links.


14 posted on 05/25/2004 12:28:48 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem

15 posted on 05/25/2004 12:36:56 AM PDT by backhoe (--30--)
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To: neverdem; Ernest_at_the_Beach

bugmenot.com worked for me. Thanks for the link.


16 posted on 05/25/2004 12:56:05 PM PDT by Born Conservative (It really sucks when your 15 minutes of fame comes AFTER you're gone...)
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