Congressman MIKE ROGERS | Representing Michigan’s 8th Congressional District

Washington, Dec 19, 2012 -

December 19, 2012 – Today, U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (MI-08), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee released the following statement regarding the passage of essential legislation to protect the future of America's public health preparedness infrastructure.

“With an overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives supporting this important legislation, I applaud Chairman Upton and Ranking Member Waxman for their leadership and bipartisan support of this bill,” said Rogers. “This legislation represents common ground between the House and Senate-passed preparedness bills.  It was developed after months of work and careful deliberation between leaders in the two chambers.  Given the urgent need to reauthorize our nation’s most critical bio-defense and preparedness programs, I am hopeful this bipartisan legislation can be quickly passed by the Senate before Congress adjourns.  If Congress does not act, the future of America's public health preparedness infrastructure will be in jeopardy.”

The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2012 (PAHPRA), introduced by U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), would reauthorize programs designed to foster the development of chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures (MCM) and strengthen the nation’s preparedness infrastructure.  Reauthorizing these programs would help the nation respond to a CBRN attack.  The legislation passed the floor of the House of Representatives by a vote of 383 to 16.  It now awaits Senate action.

You can view U.S. Representative Mike Rogers’s floor statement here

NOTE:  You can view the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2012 on the House Rules Committee website here.  Similar versions of the legislation were passed by the House (H.R. 2405) on December 7, 2011 and by the Senate (S. 1855) on March 7, 2012.