Dear Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell:
We write to express our strong objection to the rescission of $2 billion from the pandemic influenza and Project BioShield special reserve funds (SRF) that the House included in its amendment to H.R. 4899, Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2010, and urge you not to include such a rescission in this bill or future spending measures. In the last year we have experienced a pandemic influenza outbreak and seen successful and attempted terrorist attacks by extremists groups that still profess interest in acquiring chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This rescission would devastate our efforts to counter such threats by impeding the development and stockpiling of new medical countermeasures against WMD threat agents and pandemic influenza.
The recent H1N1 pandemic influenza is a reminder of the importance of being prepared to respond to a biological attack, whether natural or man-made. The value of our prior investments in pandemic influenza preparedness was demonstrated during the recent H1N1 influenza pandemic. Our response relied heavily on capabilities established only in the last few years with assistance provided by these funds, including new domestic vaccine plants and antiviral drugs. However, we also learned that our response capabilities are still not as robust and fast as they need to be to completely forestall the worst of a pandemic. The House-adopted rescission threatens to derail development of next generation influenza vaccines and expansion of domestic manufacturing capacity that will be essential when, not if, we face another pandemic influenza outbreak.
The SRF was established by the bipartisan Project BioShield Act of 2004 to encourage the development of medical countermeasures to identified WMD threats by providing assurances that the federal government was committed to purchasing new countermeasures if companies invested capital and embarked on years long development programs of those countermeasures. By providing ten-year advance funding for the SRF, Congress attempted to assure countermeasure developers that the funding of this program was not subject to the annual appropriations process. By rescinding these funds, which are obligated to protect the American people, potential countermeasure developers will feel dependent on the actions of future appropriators and may be less inclined to begin or continue countermeasure development, which is precisely the situation that establishment and advance funding of the SRF was designed to ameliorate.
Purchases by the Project BioShield SRF have added new medical countermeasures to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) that enhance our national security. The SNS now includes vaccines and therapeutics to address the threats of anthrax, smallpox, and botulism among other countermeasures. Just this past week, 1 million doses of a new smallpox vaccine that is safer for vulnerable populations was delivered as a result of a Project BioShield contract. However, we need new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to prevent and respond to additional WMD threats and terrorist attacks. In fact, contrary to claims of proponents of this rescission, the funds in the SRF are expected to be completely obligated by the 2013 sunset in pursuit of the development and acquisition of critical medical countermeasures.
The rescission included in the House amendment, or a similar future rescission, would devastate the BioShield program and, ultimately, damage our national security. It would pull the rug out from under the fledgling biodefense medical countermeasure industry which, from the start, has been wary of the U.S. government’s commitment to carrying out development of countermeasures and was the reason that Congress deemed it necessary to establish an advanced appropriation for this endeavor in the first place. We have already seen repercussions of smaller, but sizable, past rescissions for unrelated purposes as important medical countermeasure development projects have been shelved or discontinued. This rescission would inevitably result in advanced research and development contracts being cancelled and more years lost in our efforts to prepare for, and protect our citizens from, WMD terrorist attacks.
The Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism has repeatedly warned of the near-term threat of a biological attack and the need for our nation to enhance our capabilities to rapidly respond to such threats and prevent mass casualties. Therefore, we strongly urge you not to include a rescission of these critical programs during consideration of H.R. 4899 or future spending measures. We are grateful for your consideration of this request.
Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
