The U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 8 approved the bipartisan Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019, introduced the same day by U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN).
“I am proud this reauthorization bill reflects extensive feedback from medical and public health preparedness and response stakeholders so we can better prepare for and combat the known threats of today and the unknown threats of tomorrow,” Rep. Brooks said following the House’s 401-17 vote.
H.R. 269 aims to reauthorize and improve the nation’s response and preparedness to natural disasters and threats that are chemical, radiological, biological or nuclear.
“Biological threats, such as Ebola, smallpox or the anthrax attacks after Sept. 11, 2001, can devastate communities, whether occurring naturally or manufactured into weapons of mass destruction by nation states or terrorist organizations,” said Rep. Brooks, who noted that H.R. 269 “improves our federal response to public health and national security threats by working to close the gaps in our emergency preparedness and response plans.”
“The reality is, these threats we face are not just hypothetical,” the congresswoman said on the House floor Tuesday. “The ongoing Ebola outbreak is now the second largest outbreak in history. Since August of 2018, 374 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have died from Ebola, bringing the total to 623 cases, with nine new confirmed cases in just the last week.”
H.R. 269 is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), one of the authors of the original 2006 all-hazards bill and lead author of the last reauthorization in 2013. In addition to Rep.
Brooks, H.R. 269 counts U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) and U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) among its seven original cosponsors.
Rep. Brooks said H.R. 269 goes beyond biodefense and also would ensure a coordinated health care response to hurricanes by prioritizing support for the nation’s children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities and would authorize $250 million to address threats like pandemic influenza, among numerous other provisions.
“It ensures we have more medical professionals trained to keep people safe in the event of a natural disaster or if an attack were to take place,” Rep. Brooks said. “It also ensures equipment, such as hazmat suits, masks and vaccines, is available in our Strategic National Stockpiles located across the country.”
Additionally, H.R. 269 would increase federal funding for the BioShield Special Reserve Fund and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to ramp up the nation’s supply of medical countermeasures.
“This bill is the result of months of committee work in both the House and Senate,” Rep. Brooks said. “I cannot emphasize enough how critically important it is to reauthorize PAHPA, and I encourage the Senate to quickly pass H.R. 269.”
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday received H.R. 269 for consideration.