The House has reauthorized a bill intended to tackle pandemics and other threats to public safety, while leaving out a previously drafted change to emergency supplies that had the support of President Trump.
The final version of the legislation, passed through a voice vote, ultimately did not include a provision that would have moved a massive stockpile of drugs, vaccines, and medical supplies from the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
The passage of the bill, the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act, or PAHPA, marks its third reauthorization. The legislation is aimed not only at addressing infectious diseases, but also natural disasters such as hurricanes and mudslides, as well as attacks such as mass shootings, terrorist strikes, or the threat of a biochemical weapon that would spread a deadly virus.
The change to the stockpiles, kept in warehouses at undisclosed locations around the U.S., had been requested by the White House, but lawmakers ultimately decided not to include it in the bill in order to keep it bipartisan, according to a senior Republican aide. The administration may still decide to make the change, and the House added provisions to the bill to encourage better reporting.
Critics of the requested change said it would have been disruptive when an emergency comes because the CDC has established relationships with local healthcare agencies after operating the stockpile for roughly two decades.
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said on the House floor that he had concerns about the change and had not yet heard a persuasive argument for the move. The CDC, he said, had the proper relationships and expertise to continue to oversee the stockpile.
Proponents of shifting the $547 million program to a different agency say the supplies contained in the warehouses are meant not only to address the threats under which they were initially created, such as a terrorist attack or nuclear war, but also to fight off infectious diseases and to respond to natural disasters and even more unexpected threats.
When the stockpile was created in 1999, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response did not exist. That agency is also responsible for choosing and buying the supplies in the stockpile, so supporters say the roles should fall under the same agency.
The Senate version of the bill, which advanced almost unanimously out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, did not contain the stockpile change. Congress has until the end of September to send the bill to Trump to sign it into law before it expires. Its provisions last for five years.
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The law, the first iteration of which passed in 2006, aimed to better organize the ways that federal, state, and local departments respond to outbreaks and disasters, including by working with healthcare facilities, encouraging vaccine development, and boosting the number of healthcare workers.
One change to the bill gives the HHS secretary authority to transfer money out of an emergency response fund as needs emerge. In recent years, public health funding has been mired in political debates, which has resulted in delayed appropriations and has caused the secretary to shift money from other agencies.
