LC Number: KF26 .A653 2005e OCLC Number: (OCoLC)65335654 Subject: Avian influenza -- United States -- Prevention -- Finance. Excerpt: ...we, kind of, have all worked together on this thing. We worked together on this amendment last week, as we did on the one before, on the defense appropriations bill, to try to come up with, you know, What is it that we need? What are the parameters? What do we need to focus on?Quite frankly, I was pleased, but maybe not too surprised, that the President's plan very closely tracked the one that we had offered 1 week ago. I got to thinking about it, and I thought, well, of course; we're all talking to the same people. We're talking to the Secretary, we're talking to NIH, we're talking to CDC, and we're talking to the drug companies. So, we all, kind of, have the same inputs on this. So, they are very closely aligned.There is only one or two elements that I would like to discuss with you this morning. One is just on State and local preparedness, where I think we have focused a little bit more here than the President has. I think we need to talk about that, because with the buildup of vaccines, the stockpiling of anti-virals and stuff, if we don't have the public health infrastructure out there to educate people, to handle the stockpiles, to deliver the medicines, then it doesn't do much good we have all these stockpiles. So, that's the one area where I think there's a slight difference between our approach and what the administration has asked. But, that said, that's about it. I think we're going to have to, kind of, just focus on that a little bit and get those straightened out.Last, I would just hope that this remains as an emergency. I was informed this morning by the Secretary that--it's something I missed yesterday--that the President had asked for this as an emergency. That's the way we put it in our appropriations bill. I hope that the House will acquiesce in that and not try to ...