President Signs Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Bill
Remarks by the President at Signing of H.R. 3448, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act of 2002
The Rose Garden
9:50 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, and thank you all for coming.
On September the 11th, the world learned how evil men can use
airplanes as weapons of terror. Shortly thereafter, we learned how
evil people can use microscopic spores as weapons of terror.
Bioterrorism is a real threat to our country. It's a threat to every
nation that loves freedom. Terrorist groups seek biological weapons;
we know some rogue states already have them.
It's important that we confront these real threats to our country
and prepare for future emergencies. Protecting our citizens against
bioterrorism is an urgent duty of American -- American governments.
We must develop the learning, the technology and the health care
delivery systems that will allow us to respond to attacks with state of
the art medical care throughout our entire country.
I want to thank the members of the United States Congress who are
here today, members of both parties who have worked together on this
bill. I appreciate Governor Tom Ridge's hard work; Tommy Thompson and
your staff's hard work on this bill. I want to thank Tony Principi and
Christie Todd Whitman from the Veterans Department, as well as the EPA,
for being here and working on this bill.
I appreciate very much Senator Ted Kennedy, the Chairman of the
Senate Health and Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, for working
with Bill Frist. I want to thank the other cosponsors from the
committee who are here. I appreciate members of the House, Billy
Tauzin and John Dingell, for combining their talents and experience and
energy to get the bill done.
I want to thank Mike Bilirakis and Judd Gregg, who isn't here, and
all the other members of the Congress to show the American people that
when people of both parties work together they can do work on behalf of
our country.
I want to thank Elias Zerhouni, who is the Director of the National
Institution of Health, who is here with us today. I appreciate you
being here, Elias. Dr. Les Crawford, who is the Acting Commissioner of
the Food and Drug Administration, as well as Dr. David Fleming, who is
the Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Thank you all for being here as well.
Biological weapons are potentially the most dangerous weapons in
the world. Last fall's anthrax attacks were an incredible tragedy to a
lot of people in America, and it sent a warning that we needed and have
heeded. We must be better prepared to prevent, identify and respond.
And this bill I'm signing today will help a lot in this essential
effort.
First, the bill will enhance our ability to prevent and detect
bioterrorist attacks. We must and we will improve inspections of food
entering our ports, and give officials better tools to contain attacks
on our food supply. We'll have new authority to track biological
materials anywhere in the United States.
Second, the bill will strengthen the communications networks that
link our health care providers with public health authorities.
Biological attacks can be carried out quietly. Our health care
professionals are likely to be the first to recognize that there has
been an attack. The speed with which they detect and respond to a
threat to public health could be the difference between containment and
catastrophe.
Thirdly, the bill will strengthen the ability of our health care
system to expedite treatments across our country. It will provide our
state and local health authorities with resources and tools needed to
do their job. And this bill will further develop our stockpiles of
smallpox vaccines.
Finally, the bill will help us develop better medicines for the
future. It reauthorizes and improves the Prescription Drug User Free
Act.* This will make new lifesaving drugs and therapies available more
quickly, and will help ensure the safety and effectiveness of the
treatments. We will also be able to use the combined research
expertise of the government and the private sector to improve our
vaccines, our medicines, and our diagnostic tests.
Strengthening our protections against bioterror is part of a larger
effort to deal with the new threats of the 21st century. If we're
going to succeed, we need to reorganize our government. And that's why
I look forward to working with Congress to create the Department of
Homeland Security, to make sure we align authority and responsibility,
to make sure that we have an effective response to the enemy that still
wants to hit America.
This bill today I sign is a part of the process of doing our duty
to protect innocent Americans from an enemy that hates America. I'm
proud to sign the bill, and I'm proud to welcome the bill's sponsors
here to the Rose Garden.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
(The bill is signed.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. (Applause.)