Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) chaired a hearing of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee today to discuss the fiscal year 2005 budget needs for the Emergency Preparedness and Response directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. Michael Brown, Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Department of Homeland Security, testified before the subcommittee.

Senator Cochran questioned the witness about the following: the transfer of the National Strategic Stockpile from the Department of Homeland Security to the Department of Health and Human Services; the sufficiency of the Department's budget requests to adequately carry out the Department's mission; the importance of natural disaster assistance funding in the FEMA budget; the President's proposed funding for the Project BioShield Initiative and its management by the Department; an assessment of vulnerabilities of the U.S. to biological attacks; the Department's involvement in the Senate's ricin incident; and the National Incident Management System.

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