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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Congress.html

Senate Sends Bioterror Bill to Bush

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 5:46 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prompted by Sept. 11 and the anthrax-by-mail attacks, Congress is sending President Bush a broad bioterrorism bill devoting $4.6 billion to stockpiling vaccines, improving food inspections and boosting security for water systems.

``Congress today sends the message in one unified and clear voice that this nation will not remain unprepared for the threat of bioterrorism,'' said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the bill's chief authors, after the Senate approved the bill.

The Senate's approval was on a 98-0 vote Thursday, one day after the House overwhelmingly approved the measure. Bush is expected to sign it when he returns from Europe.

A separate bill aiming $29 billion at the fight against terrorism passed the House early Friday after a long and contentious debate over war and the national debt. The Senate is expected to take up its $31 billion version of the legislation in June after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.

Congress has been working on the bioterrorism bill since September's attacks on New York and Washington and accelerated the process after suffering a bioterrorism attack.

``We saw, of course, the devastating impact of a biological incident with the anthrax incident,'' said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

Mail service to Capitol Hill was stopped for six weeks after anthrax-contaminated letters were discovered last October. Five people died at post offices and elsewhere from anthrax. New scares have occurred recently at the Federal Reserve and World Bank.

The bioterrorism bill would spend $640 million to produce and stockpile smallpox vaccines for vast numbers of Americans should terrorists reintroduce the eradicated disease. The measure also would expand availability of potassium iodide for communities near nuclear plants to treat radiation poisoning in case of terrorist attack.

The bill also would pump more money into the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, secret stashes of medicine at locations throughout the United States.

The bill would provide $1.6 billion in grants to states for hospital preparedness and assessments of the vulnerability of local water systems.

``This bill reduces our vulnerability when it comes to the threat of bioterrorism, and thus reduces the likelihood of an attack,'' said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Water utilities under the legislation would be required to develop emergency plans and submit them to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will get $300 million under the legislation to upgrade its facilities.

The compromise also would renew a law that allows the Food and Drug Administration to charge fees to pharmaceutical companies to pay for speedier review of new medications. Negotiators included $45 million to help speed the review of generic drugs and $27 million to help the FDA monitor pharmaceutical advertising aimed at consumers. Both amounts would be spent over five years.

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The bill is H.R. 3448.

On the Net: Text at http://thomas.loc.gov

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