Biological Terrorism

1 Pages 270 Words

The President’s FY 2003 budget, which was delivered to Congress yesterday, increases funding by 319% to help defend America against bioterrorism. President Bush proposes $5.9 billion in bioterrorism funding, an increase of $4.5 billion from the 2002 level.

These funds will be used to improve America’s state and local hospitals and health systems, improve response efforts, build up the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, and develop new vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tests through aggressive R&D. Specifically, bioterrorism funding will focus on:

Infrastructure: Strengthen state and local health systems, including enhancing medical communications and disease surveillance capabilities, to maximize their contribution to America’s overall biodefense.

Response: Improve both specialized federal capabilities to coordinate response with state and local governments, and private capabilities in the event of a bioterrorist incident, and build up the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile.

Science: Meet the medical needs of our nation’s bioterrorism response plans by developing specific, new vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tests through an aggressive research and development program.

Bioterrorism protection funding is just one component of President Bush’s comprehensive and sustained homeland security strategy; one that focuses on four key areas - bioterrorism, emergency responders, airport and border security, and improved intelligence.

President Bush’s budget nearly doubles spending on homeland security - providing a total of $38 billion. This includes $5.9 billion to counter bioterrorism; $10.6 billion to secure our borders, including more than doubling the number of Border Patrol agents on our Northern border; $380 million to implement an entry-exit visa security system; $4.8 billion to toughen aviation security; and $3.5 billion to equip and train first responders such as firefighters, law enforcement and em...