Wednesday, October 26, 2005

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement on CDC Funds
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

*** An amendment to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 85 to 14.

Mr. President, I associate myself entirely with the remarks of my colleague, the senior Senator from Georgia, Mr. Chambliss.

I rise for two specific reasons. The first is to correct some statements that have been made to be factual that are not and, second, to take issue with the contention that the amendment before us places people before buildings.

Before I do either, however, I want to pay particular praise and attention to Senator Harkin and Senator Specter. My first visit ever to the Senate was as a Member of Congress, shortly after my election, when I came to the offices of both these Senators, accompanied by Bernie Marcus, Oz Nelson, and other executives who led a private sector focus on what we are discussing and debating today; that is, the fact that the world's premier health care and disease prevention facility was crumbling and in shambles.

These corporate leaders came to these two Senators and came to us, along with Dr. Jeffrey Copeland, with a plan to remake and rebuild the CDC so that it could carry out the jobs of the 21st century in health care.

Ironically, that visit was a year and half before September 11, 2001. But fortunately, it was a year and half before that tragic day because all of the research that was done that helped us in the identification of the anthrax problem that we had was done right there in CDC, to deal with monkeypox, to deal with avian flu, to deal with the West Nile virus--all of these diseases we have, in part, been able to deal with, with the new facilities built in this 5-year building program.

I commend Senators Harkin and Specter for their leadership and for their support.

I rise in opposition to this amendment based entirely on the facts which have been presented which are not correct. I will deal with the facts first.

The statement has been made on this floor that $200 million in construction money is sitting idle at the CDC. There is $200 million for construction at CDC, which is absolutely essential to complete Building 23 and start Building 24, in addition to the $171 million that is included in this appropriation.

As Senator Specter said early on, contractors don't contract until all compensation for construction can be made. We did the seed-planting money in the previous appropriations bills in this Congress. Now it is time build Building 23, which is the Infectious Disease Building.

It is incorrect to characterize money that is there today as being excess funds. It is part of the cash flow that we have appropriated over a 5-year plan to complete this project.

Second, and most importantly, the statement was made that CDC had spent $60 million of the money on a welcome center.

I happen to know where that came from. That came from a newspaper article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which was, on its face, absolutely incorrect. The $60 million building is the Global Communications Center, which was Building 19, which was the first thing we completed to allow the United States of America and the CDC to be able to meet a pandemic, a terrorist attack, and communicate simultaneously and seamlessly throughout the world to stop the death and destruction of Americans, as well the lives of human beings throughout the world. It was an absolutely incorrect statement made in the media. There is no welcome center, but there is a state-of-the-art communications center that allows us to instantly respond to the threats we know only too well--whether it be threats of human beings like those on September 11 who attacked us, or threats that lie await in poultry and birds in Asia that may materialize into an avian flu human-to-human transfer.

Both the statements of $200 million being on deposit or $60 million being spent on a welcome center are incorrect in the way they were presented. The money in this bill of $200 million for this 2006 budget is to provide $171 million to complete Building 23, which is the infectious disease laboratory, another $21 million for Building No. 24, which will be one of the last buildings to go into place--this is the planning and design money--and $7.5 million for maintenance of these facilities.

Last, the characterization that this amendment is about putting buildings before people's lives, with all due respect, there is a fact that should be shared today. All decry AIDS, and I commend the Senator from Oklahoma for wanting to put $60 million in AIDS drugs for those who cannot afford them, but to do so and claim that CDC spend this on a building when they could be spending it on AIDS patients is a travesty.

This year, the CDC, on its own, will deploy, of its money and that of other governments and other resources around the world, over $1 billion in its prevention efforts for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. There is no organization in the world that is more on the leading edge of the prevention of AIDS and its treatment than the Centers for Disease Control. In fact, to take this $60 million away from the building laboratory that is designed for infectious disease study would do more harm to patients with AIDS than would help to move it to drug programs for patients with AIDS. It is an improper characterization and it is an improper prioritization of money that is appropriated.

As the Senator said in the beginning presentation of his amendment, this does not save a dime of expenditure. It just moves some money around. There are some places we ought to do it. The distinguished Senator from Oklahoma is right many times in his criticism and the characterizations he presents, but he is 100 percent dead wrong in terms of this amendment.

I respectfully submit the facts to the Senate, and I ask my colleagues to reject the Coburn amendment on the CDC and continue our commitment to the health care of the people around the world and the safety and security of American citizens by continuing to fund the world's premier health care, health prevention, and health resource facility, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA.