This afternoon the House passed HR 307, the Pandemic and
All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013, by a bipartisan vote
of 395 to 29. In fact, the 29 votes against were all Republicans. The forty
minutes allocated for debate only took 17 minutes. I expect that when it comes
to a vote in the Senate, it will pass with similar results.
Unfortunately, this consensus on the current language will insure
that there will be no attempt to amend the bill to correct the lack of a
requirement for chemical facilities with reportable quantities of toxic
inhalation hazard (TIH) chemicals to report those chemicals to local medical
treatment facilities. It would only be through such reporting that the medical
staffs could be prepared to treat mass casualties in the event of a terrorist
attack or accident that resulted in a catastrophic release of those chemicals
into the community.
BTW: Apparently PETA and other animal rights groups have
still not noticed the animal
testing provisions included in the bill.
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