world health organization meeting in an emergency session today is likely to declare the first flu pandemic in 41 years. it would push drugmakers to fast-track production of a vaccine. finally, from the new york daily news the head of the white house military office forced out over the photo over the statue of liberty has become a senior fellow at the center for american progress. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. "washington journal" continues. host: our democratic senator, senator mary lenders from louisiana joins us. -- mary landrieu. guest: we have been busy looking for pat ford for renewable energy for america. it has been a tough debate, not necessarily republican against democrat, but region versus region. host: you recently passed a bill on drilling. guest: we actually voted on closing a title on gas drilling. there's a major energy bill with several titles. the main is renewable electricity standard. we are trying to get electricity -- right now we're using mostly coal and gas to produce electricity. some including myself like to see some alternative. it is th

your response please include comprehensive health reform, preparing for a possible pandemic influenza, addressing entitlements but also by medical research, substance abuse, drug safety and quite a few others. i certainly look forward to working with you cooperative lee in any way that i can. this hearing will focus on your discretionary budget but i would just like to mention some, what we are doing on comprehensive health reform. i know that you feel very strongly that prevention and public health must be at the heart of any serious reform in healthcare system and i commend you for your work in that area. i also believe in reform to the healthcare system must address the injustice of people with severe disabilities for being forced to spend their lives a nursing homes because we are not provided an option of home-based services for the disabled. that is why i have introduced a committed to choice act which president obama strongly supported in cosponsored when he was here is a member of this committee so i look forward to working with you on this issue. today we just want to talk ab

among other things, they have double the funding for pandemic flew preparations and directed more moneyo defense. there are other things along the way. they had added out of the blue almost, a $1 billion program cash for clunkers to encourage people to give up gas-guzzlers' and buy more fuel efficient vehicles. that provision also was creating problems in the senate. when you add up the tweaking, you get to a higher number. $106 billion. >> does speaker policy have the votes to make this appealing to the antiwar democrats? >> from what congressman obey says, that without that amendment on the abuse, they will have the votes. >> we have been talking to a reporter from bna news. thank you for talking to us. >> next, the 15-year-old political editor of the childrens press line talking about interviews he has done and his future aspirations. this is from today's " washington journal". we want to introduce you to a 15-year-old high school student who also serves as political editor of children's press line geared miles miller is in washington to win an award for as work and one of his reason

the years after anthrax, we see the pandemic right now. the greatest concern i have is that we spent a lot of time when we should have worried about nuclear-weapons and fissile material, radiological. from an intellectual point of view, i am even more concerned about biological weapons. host: tom ridge served as the homeland security secretary for the first bush had been attrition. the and then joins us from his mobile, california. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. mr. rich, i would like to get back to the conversation on the impact of mexico and their increasing violence and all that we hear and read about concerning the mexican mafia and all the drug cartels. i do not think that either party is addressing the real issue fully because we cannot talk about the socio-economic impact of immigration in mexico and central america for that matter. in our dialogue because everybody is afraid of being branded a racist of some sort. so we avoid the severity of the power of the mexican drug cartels that are totally i

we must -- flu pandemic. we must be ready. there is no other opportunity to be ready by this fall. we are dedicating billions of dollars in this legislation to strengthen the security along our borders. and we're also dedicating billions of dollars to support counterterrorism programs both at home and abroad. very important, mr. president. but in this bill we're not merely numbers. this legislation also contains our commitment to strengthening our military, rebuilding our relationships with key allies around the world and reducing key security threats. rather than standing, i would hope, mr. president, rather than restoring our standing in the world some republicans are standing in the way, period. i repeat: rather than restoring our standing in the world some republicans are standing in the way. they are threaten toking block this entire bill and the good it does because of one small but significant part of it. that small but significant part is actually a tremendously important and good program. it's called cash for clunkers. mr. president, this isn't a program we're just going d

fle -- fr pandemic flu. as you know, there was money we had that was ridiculed by some of our members in the senate. senate. we have now again put money in-- i mean we would put it in the stimulus initially. we have now put a significant amount of money in the supplemental, but it is apparent i think to all of us that even that amount is not enough, so whatever the amount is, the administration is going to request four, i would hope that they would do it promptly. i simply and by your comments before i pesci want to the next questioner. >> mr. chairman, i will certainly share your interests in avoiding the sees specific funding in the future with the administration. i do know that the president personally feels very strongly about the opportunity to cure cancer in his lifetime and has talked about that for years based i think in large part on his personal experience, and i think that is a funding initiative that is reflected in these the budget priorities. having said that, they are also both in the recovery

even with the heightened attention to nationwide pandemic planning over the past four years there's been surprise at the number of businesses large and small who have done nothing at the assumption that their local and state and federal governments will do everything when a crisis like a hurricane or a pandemic appears at the front door. but yet at the same time, we've seen innovative hurricane preparedness efforts along the gulf coast and the atlantic coast in the local and state governments and in the private sector in states like florida but, unfortunately, these are not replicated across all states vulnerable too hurricane strike. in light of both we are left to conclude that on the whole community preparedness with the right mix of private and public collaboration and mutual dependence is lacking. this will create unrealistic expectations and requirements for government and especially for the federal government. this committee knows that with preparedness efforts leaders make the difference. crisis preparedness is essential to the physical and economic survival. in light of today's

local state and federal government will and can do everything when a crisis like a hurricane or pandemic appears at the front door. yet at the same time we've seen innovative hurricane preparedness efforts along the gulf coast and atlantic coast between local and state governments and private sector and in states such as florida. but unfortunately these are not replicated across all states vulnerable to a hurricane strike. in light of both we are left to conclude on the whole community prepared miss with the mix of private collaboration in mutual dependence is lacking. this will create unrealistic expectations and requirements for government and especially for the federal government. this committee knows with preparedness efforts leaders make a difference. business and government making political and

i would suggest that the average american family is much more in danger of being hit by the flu pandemic than they are of actually being hit by any person who would be imprisoned in a maximum security prison here in the united states. i frankly would be kind of interested in seeing some of those terrorists expos to the wonderful -- expose to the wonderful charms of some of our prison inmates in our own prisons. i don't think they would like the experience very much. but nonetheless, that is not what is at issue here. what is at issue is simply whether or not we will get about our business of going to conference and producing a supplemental appropriation bill that will meet the basic needs of our troops, that will meet our basic diplomatic necessary its as well, and that's why i think there's a problem with this motion. this motion by the time it sets aside money for military construction and defense, this motion would not leave us with enough money on the table to respond sufficiently to the pandemic flu problem. it would not leave us with enough money on the table to deal with the neces

the chairman and i have spent some energy attempting to figure out what we do with a thing called pandemic flu. i want to commend the department for taking on h1n1 virus seriously and going forward with a program that will attempt to make sure that we are ready and that we benefit from that which we have learned so far as a result of work by people like dr. gerberding and the like. i know that, within your budget, there's a request that includes three begin $54 million for public health and social-service emergency funds. at the same time i am concerned that there are plans to move bioshield money from flu vaccine, for flu vaccine production. within that makes it is awfully important that we make sure we are not stealing from peter to pay paul, that we have enough money to ensure that we are protecting the public and our country from difficulties with bioshield chemical, biological, radiological problems etc.. could you tell me what your thinking is presently regarding that funding, and if you agree that there are conflicts that could lead to finding difficulty? >> congressmen, i don't thi

even with heightened attention to nationwide pandemic planning over the past four years there's been surprised at the number of businesses large and small who find nothing at the assumption their local state and federal governments will and can do everything in a crisis like a hurricane or pandemic appears at the front door. yet at the same time we have seen and of a hurricane preparedness efforts along the gulf coast and atlantic coast between local and state governments and private sector and in states such as florida. but unfortunately these are all replicate across all states will rebel to hurricane strike. in light of both we are left to conclude on the whole community preparedness with a mix of private and public collaboration and mutual dependence is lacking. this will create requirements for government and federal government. this committee knows it preparedness efforts leaders make the difference. business and government making political and economic business case crisis prepare this is essential to the fiscal and economic survival in light of today's communities states and

cooperation and leadership on periled in our history from afghanistan to iran, north korea to terrorism, pandemic health concerns, debilitating poverty, the global financial crisis to destabilizing migration. we cannot address these issues, none of these issues alone. transatlantic cooperation defined in part by a german u.s. alliances must be brought deep and strong and clear to move forward and the 21st century. the transatlantic port shipped as an anchor for global stability, the transatlantic alliance is the only global alliance with the capacity to engage is great challenges of our time and a germany and the u.s. are two of the most critical pillars upon which the alliance is built. chancellor merkel appreciates this reality and she also appreciates the responsibility is that go with it. the chance that president obama and chancellor merkel have met twice in london interesting and will see each other tomorrow is a testament to the importance of this relationship. germany is a friend, a close ally in critical partners to the united states, the strength of this relationship is essential not on

we have a pandemic flow, swine flu, that is now at a level that is 41 years historically in this country the administration said we need additional funds because of that for the flu. we did not have that in our bill. every member wants to take care of the health of our people. we know it carries a lot of white underside of the aisle. just the other day we heard people say what a great theater ronald reagan was. i want to quote him if i can find it for a quickly. he said this. the imf is the linchpin of the financial system. he said i have an unbreakable commitments to increased funding for imf. that is a conservative leader not a democrat. he led this country. i supported ronald reagan and most of as security initiatives because we needed to make america stocker. we had to tell our survey union adversaries that we are prepared to invest in this country. the first president bush said the imf is at a crossroads of our efforts. remember newt gingrich when he said we have an obligation to work with the imf. this is not a partisan issue. we can and we will pass funding. i urge you to join thi

we have a significant amount of additional funding for pandemic flou. we tried to put the money in the initial recovery package. we were laughed at by the senate. mexico found out when they get to shut down their entire economy for two weeks because of the storm well -- tomorrow with the swine flu. it is not estimated that as many as one-third of americans will be hit by that swine flu. this bill has additional dollars to try to meet that challenge. i would submit to you that the average american family has a greater chance of being hit by that flew -- swine flu then he will be hit by any terrorist at guantanamo bay. we are also told that the imf borrowers money to give some to other countries. this is a tough reality. we have to participate in the world. when the world economy becomes shaky, we have a responsibility to ourselves to try to stabilize the world economic situation. that is one of the walls that the imf tries to play. -- ism arguments with it in the past. to say that our contribution to the imf does not benefit us is to be ignorant of the h

is a big threat, but over the last 60 days there was an earthquake in the los angeles area and a pandemic. let's make this about the need for better capability to deal with catastrophic of events, because as the illinois senator told us, he is more concerned about tornadoes, these days. we have to make certain that we resonate the argument. >> what i will do is, i want to support what you have said. i will call a hearing on earthquakes, and i want to show what will happen when an earthquake, a major earthquake is in california or memphis, and i will use the risk assessment that has been done, to show the disaster is based on scientific information. this is what the government and the scientists and the leaders believe is probable, to happen. what this committee is going to do is to try continuously to show the probability and the gap to respond to what we are predicting is going to happen. i understand that there are other priorities of the government and this is not the only priority, but having represented people who have survived through a catastrophic disaster, it is hard to tell them

we have had a bit of a shakeup in the los angeles region, with eight pandemic. and the one thing i encourage you to do is let's make this about the need for better capabilities to deal with catastrophic events, particularly housing, in respect of of the cost. because as the senator from illinois pointed out, he is more concerned about tornadoes these days, and we need to make sure we are resonating that argument. >> thank you. i do want to support your point. i will call a hearing for earthquakes, particularly, and i want to show a film in this committee about what is going to happen when an earthquake, a major earthquake, not just california, but memphis, which is a target -- i will use the risk assessment by our managers to show likely disasters, what they think would happen. this is what our government and scientists and leaders believe that we will try continuously to show the probabilities to respond to what we are predicting is going to happen. and as we work, i realize there are other properties in the government. but having represented people who survive

even with heightened attention to nationwide pandemic planning of the last four years, there has been a surprising number of businesses large and small but have done nothing at the assumption that the local federal and state governments can do everything that when a crisis appears at the front door. at the same time, we have seen in to native -- innovative measures between local and state government and the private sector. unfortunately, these are not replicated across all states vulnerable to a hurricane strike. in light of both, we're left to conclude that mutual dependence is lacking. this committee knows that leaders make a difference. business and government. crisis prepared this is essential to physical and economic survivors. there is little margin for error in terms of the efficiency apply to how we respond to and recover from the disaster. the community partnership has seen the value of business designating corporate response officers to work hand-in-hand with passion for crisis. these. -designated conference points in hats response -- and hence response, because we're talkin

the threat of pandemic flu is an unmistakable reminder of why we must prepare for all hazards, as is the annual and predictable onslaught of natural disasters, from hurricanes and floods to wildfires and ice storms. accordingly this bill will enable our government to better protect the american people against all major threats. appropriately for the start of hurricane season, the bill maintains a robust $844 million for fema management administration and $2 billion for disaster relief. in addition, the bill and report specifically place fema at the forefront of disaster replace management, thereby avoiding confusion when working with our state and local partners. state and local emergency managers and first responders are equal partners in disaster preparedness and response. and i'm pleased that the administration's budget request recognizes this important partnership. the bill strengthens our committee to -- commitment to our state and local partners by providing $3.96 billion for grant and traping programs, including $33 million for emergency performance grants, our one true all ha

and it became pandemic around here that this was happening. and so the democratic leadership, much to their cred credit, passed the honest leadership and open government act. and in that act, they put in rule 44, section 8, which said exactly what happened with this language shouldn't happen. exactly what happened with this language shouldn't happen. and i congratulate the chairman of the committee, senator inouye, because he has resisted aggressively allowing this type of action to occur. but in this case, the house of representatives gave him no options, and they put the language in over, i presume, some debate. so this amendment, this motion will knock out this language. it doesn't defeat the bill. the bill can still stand, sent back to the house and passed. take about another couple hours maybe at the most to pass it. and if people to want bring back the cash for clunker bill, they can do that. they can do it as a free-standing bill, and hopefully they can do it by paying for it, because that's the way it should be done. because there's an

the measure also contains money for international monetary fund, pandemic flu response, and the so-called cash for clunkers bill. this is about an hour and 25 minutes. >> isn't it wonderful, we've spent $600 million on a new visitor's center and we still don't have a room that's better to meet in a conference. what a wonderful use of resources and what a wonderful sense of planning went into that. having gotten rid of my frustration for day. i thought that would take a moment to manifest itself. let me simply say that we're here to deal with, in the form of a supplement with the last of the leftovers plus whatever other items that are being attached along the way. i'm willing to forego my opening statement in the hope that others will do the same so that we can get right to the business. so having said that, let me call on senator innoy first and then mr. lieu yiss and mr. cock ran and see how far we can go and how fast we can get there. >> mr. chairman, i thank you very much. i agree but that we've gone over the words long enough, it's time for work. this is a compromise package that bot

among other things, they've doubled the funding for pandemic flu preparations. they've directed a lot more money to defense. and there are other things along the way. and they have added out of the blue almost a $1 billion program cash for clunkers to encourage people to give up their gas guzzlers and buy more fuel efficient vehicles. and that provision also is creating problems in the senate. so when you add up all of this tweaking, then you get to a much higher number, $106 billion. does speaker pelosi have the votes to make this appealing to the anti-war democrats and get their votes to get it to the house next week? >> from what congressman obey says, that minus that amendment on photo abuse, they will have the votes. >> we've been talking to nancy ognanovic of bna news. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> america and the courts today at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> in his weekly online address, president obama proposed $315 billion if savings to pay for his health care initiative, including reducing government spending on prescription d

this conference report also includes $1.5 billion for response to swine flu pandemic to help state and local governments, but also to fund global efforts to track, contain and slow down the spread of this flu. although it is not perfect legislation, it provides some essential funding and i will support it and urge my colleagues to do the same. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i might consume, ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: and let me begin by thanking my friend for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and i have to say that it's with extreme disappointment and sadness that i rise in opposition to this rule having been very supportive of it when we had just a few weeks ago. the underlying measure of the supplemental appropriations bill that's supposed to fund our troops began auspiciously as a wonderfully bipartisan ef

we have a pandemic flew. -- flu that is now level that the world health organization says is 41 years historically in the context. the administration has said because of that, we need additional funds for vaccines. we did not have that in our bill. clearly, there is not a member of this house that is not one to take care of the health of our people. i might say that although he does not carry a lot of weight on your side of the aisle, jim leach has strongly endorsed this effort for the same reason ronald reagan who we are just the other day -- who we honored just the other day. i am going to quote ronald reagan for you if i can find it real quickly. ronald reagan said this. the imf is the linchpin of the international financial system. that is ronald reagan. he went on to say, i have an unbreakable commitment to increase funding for the imf. that is not a democrat. that is a conservative leader. he led this country and was strongly supported by this country. i want you to know that i supported ronald reagan and emotion -- on most of his security initiatives because i believed that we

important efforts as in the world health organization t-notes we have reached internationally a pandemic stage, the important money that is there for the preparation and response to what we and others throughout the world as soon will be another visit from h1n1 this fall, i think for any number of reasons the administration strongly believes a vote in support of all of these measures is too late important event their reasoning they say is because of the i am finding. 1998 john boehner said that given the crisis we have around the world of the u.s. needs to provide leadership, the only real avenue is the imf. interesting change of position. >> have you gotten his response on that? look, again -- the president made a commitment at the g20 to ensure that as we watched an economic downturn, we watched an even steeper downturn in exports which hurts not only, it hurts all countries but it hits particularly developing nations. this is important relief to ensure that we have strong global trade. i don't think given where we are in the world economy that we would want to see a pullback in that c

the course of the last 60 days have to shake in the los angeles region now we have had his care of pandemic and i think the one recognition and a one thing i strongly encourage you to do is let's ming this about the need for better capabilities to do with catastrophic events particularly housing in respect of what the causes because as the senator pointed out is more concerned about tornadoes or whenever we're calling them are microbursts these days, and with that to make sure we're resonating the argument with the people he met thank you, and what i will do because i do want to support the point that you just made in the. i'm going to call a hearing for earthquakes particularly and i want to show a film in this committee of what is going to happen when an earthquake hits not just california by memphis which is a target and i'm going to use the risk assessment that has been done by our risk managers to show the like a disaster is based on the scientific information and this is what our government and scientists and leaders believe is probable to happen and what this committee is going to do

some assistance to that industry, and yes, we have a significant amount of additional funding for pandemic flou. we tried to put that money initially in the original economic recovery package. we did put it in when the bill left the house. it went to the senate, and we were laughed at. it was said, what does flu have to do with the economy, with jobs? mexico found out when they had to shut down their entire economy for two weeks because of the turmoil in that country with the flou. it is now estimated that as many as 1/3 of americans will be hit by the flu. this bill has millions of additional dollars to try to meet that challenge, and i would submit to you that the african -- the average american family has a greater chance of being hit by about flow than he does today -- to be hit by that flu than he does fight any terrorist in guantanamo. wheeler also told the imf funding is bad wheat -- we are also told the imf funding is bad because the pros money to give to other countries. this is a tough reality -- because it borrows money to give to other countries. this is a tough reality. we hav

while we have been eradicating polio, whether it has been helping to eliminate measles or fighting pandemic flew. the polio eradication initiative, it is a partnership first and foremost on the right hand side, you have the private sector partners who are part -- the left-hand side, the eradication initiative. on the right hand side, the political bodies and others who played a critical and the program and at the center, the ministry of health, over the last 20 years, been responsible for coordinating the implementation of the eradication strategies. these strategies are 4fold, consists of protein immunization on which to conduct a national immunization days and eventually mop up activities to interrupt the remaining change of foliage transmission. to give you a sense of the scale of the program we are talking about, from which i am going to take some of the lessons. this program has been running for nearly 20 years, 20-1/2 years, it is operated in 200 companies, twenty million people have been involved on the eradication initiative, distributing the vaccine, immunizing children or supporti

we have a pandemic flu, swine flu, h-1-n-1 flu that is now at a level that the world health organization says is 41 years historically in the context. and the administration said because of that we need additional funds for flu vaccines. we didn't have that in our bill. clearly there's not a member in this house that doesn't want to take care of the health of our people. i might say although he doesn't carry a lot of weight on our side of the aisle that jim leach has strongly endorsed this effort for the same reason that ronald reagan, whom we honored just the other day, just the other day we heard so many people say what a great leader ronald reagan was. i want to quote ronald reagan for you if i can find it real quickly. ronald reagan said this. the i.m.f. is the linchpin of the international financial system. that's ronald reagan. he went on to say, i have an unbreakable commitment to increased funding for i.m.f. that's not a democrat. that is a conservative leader that you revere. who led this country and was strongly supported by this country. and i want you to know that i and i wan

that's what causes and is responsible for the pandemic of cansers, of heart disease, respiratory disease and other factors. it's the smoke. so the migration of people from the smoke into smokeless and other types of forms of therapies, if they want to obtain their nicotine, it's ok. mr. waxman himself would say, i do not want to outlaw tobacco. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: thank you, mr. speaker. i think that one of the differences between smoking lettuce, and i have to admit this is the first time that i heard of smoking lettuce and smoking tobacco is tobacco because of the nicotine content is highly addictive and, again, there is evidence, undisputable evidence that companies have deliberately increased the levels of addictive nicotine within those products. and american lives have been lost as a result. one of the other important aspects of this bill is ending the practice of many of these tobacco products which are targeted specifically to children. borrowing the flavor -- barring the sale of flavor tobacco product

the last 60 days have a little bit of a shake in the los angeles region and we've had a scare from pandemic and the one recognition and the one thing i strongly encourage you to do is let's make this about the need for better capabilities to deal with catastrophic events particularly housing in respect of the cause is because the senator from illinois appointed out he's more concerned about tornadoes or whatever we are calling them or microbursts these days and we've got to make sure we are designating the argument with the people who are here. >> i will tell you what i am going to do because i want to support the white you just made on and going to call a hearing for earthquakes particularly and i want to show a film in this committee of what is going to happen when an earthquake, a major earthquake hits not just california but memphis which is a target and i am going to use the risk assessment that has been done by the risk managers to show the likely disasters based on their scientific information this isn't what senator landrieu thinks might happen, this is what our government and scien

told the administration is probably going to be sending down additional request for funding for pandemic flu. i would simply ask you to the white house that since we are trying to finish the supplemental conference this week that if the administration is planning to send that down that they do so immediately so that we can give full consideration in the conference. in my view president bush was correct to asked for full funding for that program more than five years ago. this kennedy for a variety of reasons didn't quite measure up to that. i think we have got to get on with that business and so i hope that the administration will sent down to us as quickly as possible with the estimates are that he will need. i also have some concerns i but like to express' with certain aspects of your budget especially liheap and while that is a peculiar request with nih but i will save that for the question period. >> thank you, mr. chairman and as a fellow kansan i want to agreed it would welcome for secretary sebelius. congratulations on your confirmation. i know after getting back to washington and

the smoke is the killer because of the inhalation of the tobacco smoke, that's responsible for the pandemic of cancers, heart disease, respiratory disease, and these deadly results. so i'm going back to this harm reduction. so despite decades of intense efforts to eradicate smoking, more than 40 million adults continue to smoke cigarettes. and they are likely to continue because we don't have this ability to migrate them to other products. it's extremely important when we talk about a harm reduction strategy that it -- not only is the access to a particular product, it is the education of the people at large as to what type of products they could avail themselves to that have less harmful health results. that should be our goal. and that's -- that has been embraced. the american association of public health physicians noted last year that, quote, enhancement of current policies based on the premise that all tobacco products are equally risky will yield only small and barely measurable reductions of tobacco related illness and death. end quote. so there is -- in the public debate there is th

eradicating polio whether delivering bed nets, helping with the effort to eliminate measles or fighting pandemic blue. a few words on what global polio eradication initiative is -- it is a partnership first and foremost on the right-hand side you have some of the private sector partners who are part of its dash on the left side of the eradication initiative and on the right some of the political ngos who have played a critical role in the program and, of course, at the center of this spearheading partners and ministries of how that have over the last 20 years been responsible for reporting the implementation of the eradication strategy is. these are four fold as you see here consisting of a base of routine immunization on which two conduct national immunization days and eventually mop up activities to interrupt the remains chains of polio transmission. to give you a sense of the scale of the program we are talking about from which i'm going to take some of the lessons this has been running for nearly 20 years, 20 and a half years actually and operated in over 200 countries over 20 million people

functioning in recent years, we could have expected helpful relevant reports on preparing for global pandemics. congress might well have required that there be communications in mine, such as the sayingo mine. -- such as the sago mine. mr. hastings: i hope that the gentleman will recognize the gentlelady from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. holt: the sago mine would have allowed the miners to get out alive. i would have expect we would have better legislation dealing with corn-based ethanol. i believe that we would have recognized through o.t.a. studies the overdependence of the financial sector on mathematical models. we are missing out on a lot, mr. speaker, but it is -- i've decided that in my exacerbation, as i wonder why in the world congress would deprive itself of this useful tool, i decided that the very reason we need o.t.a. are discomfort with things science and technological. our inability to deal with such things is exactly what makes it difficult for us to recognize that we need it. with that i yield the remaining time to the gentl

detect and diagnose and respond in the event of a public health emergency such as the swine flu pandemic, which is currently ongoing. my amendment will return lost funding for surveillance and response activities for deadly viruses such as west nile, antivirus, monkey pox, sars and other. the funding will permit state localities to participate in a national disease system for identifying food-born outbreaks such as e. coli and salmonella. this does not establish new programs. i want to just emphasize that for all my colleagues. instead it updates existing authorizations and does so in ways that i think make a lot of sense. it is authorizing language, and i hope my colleagues will agree that this is a proper -- a proper amendment to a proper set of provisions to include in this health reform bill. >> very comprehensive. very thoughtful amendment. any conversation about this? >> i'm just glad he added the part that this isn't anything new. it sounds like something new, but it sounds like duplication. we've already got the information on swine flu. i mean, i've been seeing numbers on that.

last 60 days we've had a little bit of a shake in the los angeles region, we've had a scare from pandemic, and i think the one thing i strongly encourage you to do is let's make this about the need for better capabilities to deal with catastrophic events, particularly housing,er respect i have of -- irrespective of what the cause is because as the senator from illinois pointedded out, he's more concerned about tornadoes or microbursts these days, and we've got to make sure we're resonating the argument to the people who are hearing. >> well, thank you. i do want to support the point you just made. i'm going to call a hearing for earthquakes particularly, and i want to show a film in this committee of what is going to happen when an earthquake, a major earthquake hits not just california, but memphis which is a target, and i'm going to use the risk assessment that's been done by our risk managers to show the likely disasters based on their scientific information. this isn't what senator landrieu thinks might happen, this is what our government and scientists and leaders believe is probable