I want to thank the Chairman for calling this joint hearing. I know that our witnesses share many demands on their time, and your appearance before our Committee is appreciated.
At yesterday's hearing, I said that the last line of defense in a homeland terrorist attack should not be the Congress, nor should the first line be the men and women of the U.S. Postal Service. You, our public health officials, are our health intelligence service when it comes to protecting the health and safety of Americans. Just as the terrorists attacks on September 11th exposed shortcomings in our nation's intelligence gathering and monitoring capabilities, the response to the recent bioterrorism attacks via the mail have highlighted areas in our federal and local public health infrastructure which are urgently in need of improvement.
We are all concerned about the safety of the mail, postal employees, and the American public.
Our two-day hearing is reviewing the government's response to the criminal use of the mails and how this new threat has impacted postal operations. Today we will learn how the public health sector reacted to the spread of anthrax through the mail and explore where we need to go from here.
The recent anthrax events underscore the need for new detection methods and information-gathering systems. I recently introduced two separate but related bills that address the crucial issue of our national preparedness for acts of bioterrorism. S. 1560, the Biological Agent Environment Detection Act, authorizes appropriations totaling $40 million to support research and development of technologies to detect organisms in the air, water, and food that cause disease in humans, livestock, and crops. My proposal mirrors the President's request of $40 million to support early detection surveillance to identify potential bioterrorism agents. As we have learned from the events of the past few weeks, there is a critical need to increase funding for research and development of new technologies to detect the use of biological weapons against this nation.
My other bill, S. 1561, introduced with Senator Rockefeller, authorizes additional funds to develop training programs with community health care providers. We need to enhance the cooperation between critical elements of our health care system included in the National Medical Disaster System. These increased funds will support expanded use of existing telecommunications systems to implement a telemedicine training program for VA staff and their community public health counterparts. Remote regions of our nation need the assurance that local public health responders will have the training and information they need to protect and treat citizens in instances of biological terrorism.
The Postal Service has safely delivered the nation's mail for over 200 years. Prior to last month, the Service averaged 80 anthrax threats a year. Until now, there had never been a real case of anthrax transmitted through the U.S. mail. The Postal Service has never had to deal with toxic contamination like this before. Their knowledge of the impact of these attacks and their responses reflect the guidance they receive from the CDC and other public health officials.
Mr. Chairman, since September 11th, the Postal Service has delivered more than 15 billion pieces of mail. The Postal Service is working with its employees who know that they are at ground zero of this assault on America. The more than 800,000 postal employees deserve our gratitude and thanks. I would also like to acknowledge the tremendous work carried out by all the scientists, technicians, public health officers, HAZMAT units, environmental remediation specialists, and medical personnel who are responding to these unprecedented attacks.
We all have to be vigilant. If something in the mail makes you suspicious, don't open it. Don't shake it, bump it, or smell it. Wash your hands with soap and water and call 911. Law enforcement officials will respond.
Again, I would like to thank our Chairman for convening today's hearing and our witnesses for taking the time to be with us this today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
