I am delighted to be here and pleased to join our Chairman at today's joint hearing. The Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services, which I chair, has been looking into the bioterrorism risk for some time now. In July, we held a hearing to review government efforts to prepare our communities to respond to acts of bioterrorism. Sadly the bioterrorism risk has become a reality and three Americans have lost their lives in bioterrorism attacks on American soil. As the Chairman mentioned, we held a joint hearing on bioterrorism preparedness only two days after the anthrax event in Senator Daschle's office.

I want to thank the Postmaster General for being with us, as well as the presidents and employees of our postal employee unions. In the interest of time, I will keep my remarks brief.

The last line of defense in a homeland terrorist attack should not be the Congress, nor should the first line of defense be the men and women of the U.S. Postal Service. The sacrifices being made by our nation's postal employees demand our government's full support and available resources to ensure their safety.

These dedicated people never expected to be on the front line of a war. They never expected their workplaces to become the front line in a biological weapons attack. And they never expected to lose members of the postal family to terrorism.

I know that every American is concerned about the safety of the mail, and I hope our hearings will answer some of their questions. I also know that the safety of our postal employees and the public cannot be compromised.

I firmly believe that to better protect Americans and critical infrastructures like the U.S. Postal Service, there must be cooperation at all levels of government. Right now we have a complex federal interagency process that governs our preparedness and responses to bioterrorism. We cannot afford confusion or duplicity in program efforts. Rather we must strengthen existing programs, and add new ones where needed in order to prepare all communities -- from the largest city to the smallest rural town -- for biological incidents.

Before I yield back my time, I wish to express my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of APWU members Joseph Curseen and Thomas Morris, Jr., who passed away last week. Like the police officers and firefighters in New York and the military personnel and civilian employees at the Pentagon, these two public servants lost their lives in service to their country. I also extend my hopes for a speedy recovery to those postal employees who are undergoing treatment for inhalation and cutaneous anthrax.

I ask unanimous consent that my entire statement be included in the record as well as three articles from The Washington Post, two commemorating the lives of the fallen postal employees, and one by Stephen Barr on our heroic postal employees. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.