House committee approves 'Bioshield' funding proposal

The House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday unanimously approved draft legislation authorizing $5.6 billion over the next decade for the research, development, and purchase of tests, treatments and vaccines to fight potential bioterror agents.

But the committee's "Bioshield" proposal departs in a significant way from President Bush's plan in that the funding would be subject to appropriations rather than mandatory spending. That was key to winning support of panel Democrats, who praised Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., for the bipartisan process by which the measure was crafted.

Unlike the original plan, said Health Subcommittee ranking member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, "this legislation is not a blank check." Added Energy and Commerce ranking member John Dingell, D-Mich., "Bioshield should not automatically be given a higher priority over other national security or public health matters."

Tauzin said appropriators have assured him that the money will be made available through an "advance appropriation" that will take some parliamentary maneuvering.

Tauzin said he regretted that the measure, which also gives the HHS secretary authority, in emergencies, to allow the use of drugs not yet approved by the FDA, does not address liability concerns expressed by companies. "But we were told not to mess with that," Tauzin told reporters after the markup, because it was so controversial.

Tauzin said he was urged personally by Vice President Dick Cheney to put the bill on a fast track during a conversation last week. "As the vice president said, this is life on the planet stuff," he said.

The bill, which was to be formally introduced later today, will not go directly to the House floor. The Government Reform Committee has tentatively scheduled a markup for next Wednesday, and the Homeland Security Committee, which held a hearing on the measure Thursday afternoon, could also mark it up. But Tauzin said he hopes for a floor vote by early June at the latest.

The Senate version of the bill, approved unanimously by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in March, remains stalled by complaints from Appropriations Committee ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., over its mandatory funding mechanism.