Vote on bioterrorism bill expected next week

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., Thursday predicted the House-Senate bioterrorism conference would be wrapped up by next week and ready for floor votes in both chambers, despite a handful of issues yet to be resolved like drinking water security and a prescription drug user fee package that will be attached to the bill.

"Under this legislation, we will make sure we have sufficient drugs, vaccines and other supplies for the nation's health security," Tauzin said at the conferees' first public session Thursday. "We know that greater coordination and communication is needed to respond effectively, and our legislation will improve coordination and the national and local levels," Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said.

However, House and Senate negotiators have yet to resolve a battle over whether drinking water facilities should be required to file their emergency contingency plans with the EPA. "We have no authority to legislate in this area," Tauzin said, citing a letter from Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, who asserted sole House jurisdiction. He also argued the EPA is "not designated as a repository for secret, sensitive, highly dangerous information." But Kennedy and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the public must be assured that drinking water is safe.

A major add-on to bioterrorism that has yet to be resolved is the prescription drug user fee package. While Republicans asserted that most of the issues are resolved, Democrats took a different view. "I want to see [Prescription Drug User Fee Act] go through but not without post-market drug safety and pediatrics," Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told reporters after the meeting. Tauzin set a May 20 deadline for the user fee discussions to be resolved, including talks about including medical device user fees, veterinary drug user fees, veterans' hospital issues and other matters.

Tauzin also told reporters he has not yet determined whether he will include a provision giving the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the authority to correct a previous error in estimating physician's fees--a major point of contention in the ongoing discussions over a Medicare prescription drug bill. However, a spokesman later said the Congressional Budget Office's scoring of the provision at $43 billion precludes its inclusion in the bioterrorism package. "Now it's back to Plan A and we'll try to resolve it in our Medicare bill," the spokesman said.