After nearly eight months of argument, an agreement has been reached on funding for Project Bioshield. By passing the House and Senate last week as part of the Homeland Security appropriations bill, it should ensure that countermeasures for potential biological weapons are developed by providing a guaranteed market to the manufacturers of such treatments.
The breakthrough came earlier this month, after the Bush administration fully embraced the discretionary funding mechanism in the House version of the bill. It had acquiesced to the idea last July, but apparently had held out hope that some version of the Senate’s mandatory funding mechanism for the project would be approved. However, efforts to pass stand-alone versions of Project Bioshield were repeatedly blocked by Sen. Robert Byrd, West Virginia Democrat.
Inserting Project Bioshield into the Homeland Security appropriations bill allowed funding for the measure to be hammered out during the give and take of the House and Senate conference. The compromise bill, which the House approved by a 417-8 vote and the Senate passed by voice vote, will provide about $5.6 billion in funding for Project Bioshield over the next decade, including $890 million in fiscal 2004. Even Mr. Byrd recently called the final result “fair and balanced.”
Given the failure of U.S. scientists to find signs of an Iraqi smallpox program, it would be easy to assail spending for Project Bioshield. However, that would be dangerously shortsighted. As Dr. William Bicknell and Kenneth Bloem pointed out in the recently released Cato Institute paper Smallpox and Bioterrorism, “The smallpox risk has never been though to be limited to the Hussein regime.” Moreover, smallpox is merely one of the many agents that might be used in a biological attack. There are scores of other possibilities, even discounting genetically engineered weapons. The treatable strain of anthrax used in the post-September 11 attacks nearly shut down Washington.
Terrorists who use biological weapons may achieve mass disruption even if they fail to achieve massive destruction. Passage of Project Bioshield should help to meet both threats, providing both physical protection to those afflicted by such agents and psychological comfort to those who fear they might have been exposed. In addition, the knowledge that such treatments are in development may be enough to deter al Qaeda plots in the making.
The breakthrough in funding for Project Bioshield will not make America immune from a biological attack, but it will make Americans better prepared. Its terrible necessity has demanded legislative flexibility, and although the Homeland Security conference report appears far from perfect, the inclusion of Project Bioshield is an important added reason to support it. Congress has done well to finally pass this important measure.
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