Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622 :

CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings June 22, 2024

That means the facility, as an appropriate facility has Good Laboratory practice and appropriate rules. It includes the fbi review of personnel reliability on all of those who we will be using it includes a set of requirements elevate biosafety and security inventory management, Access Control and it includes a process and ability to detect and respond including the notification of jurisdictions that have these facilities including but we did with the anthrax response being able to go in investigate, identify whether people are at risk and whether they are and this involves private sector as well as Public Sector institutions; is that correct . Thats correct. Where you find the best practices going from . Doctor hassell was talking about going to the private sector. Where are we finding the best practices today . Private or Public Sector . It is a combination of both. We will look at the private sector. That often does not happen as a 1st reaction. The department of defense my centers for Disease Control nih are outstanding facilities doing cuttingedge work which have risks places where best practices and not best practices will occur because of the broad range. I have additional questions that i was a bit for the record later. The gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Appreciate you being here. I am sure you are having a blast. It is frustrating for me to see what is taking place. To here you guys say you have protocols. It is hard for me to follow this. Is it the practice of the dod to send out a death certificate with select agents when they leave. It has been. It has been . How long has that been going on . I apologize. One similar to this. I am not sure. We can look at that back 12 years. I will find out. This dates back. We know it has been going on for at least five years. Why is it the private lab, lab why did it not have a death certificate . Originally tested they did not see growth. If it shipped out the practice the dod with any shipment to have a death certificate. Why was theyre not one ship to a private lab. That particular operation, sending out blind tests. To see if people could protect the present. We knowingly shipped live anthrax . Say again . Shipping it to them to see if they could find it. He knowingly shipped live anthrax to this lab. Did not provide the certificate. We did not knowingly shipped live agent. To the shipment and have as your place or some other place a death certificate . Yes. Who produced the death certificate . The originator. The difference between the test private lab showed. Very similar. One showed in life. One of the key differentiators. Who is responsible for showing the procedure. Who is responsible for it at the time . Who was it . It was dugway. Who do they fall . Hassle, so some . Who oversees dugway . Army. Narrowing down for me. Help me. Help me figure out who is responsible, the chain of command responsible for the death certificate for the procedures that show the agents leaving is truly dead the. The chain of command of the laboratory. The chain of command to find out. This is not a hard question. Finding out for sure the procedures defined that the agent is dead. It would be you dont no. Can you answer that question . I cannot. Can you answer that question . Not specifically. As i was going through the Background Information i cannot figure it out either. There is no clear line of chain of command. You have to have someone responsible for something. Thissomething. This goes back to line of questions that was already asked. No one takes responsibility. We assume everyone is doing there job in here we are shipping out live anthrax . No one takes responsibility for. Going to leave it like down where they could not be shipped until you declared a line of command and procedures. A minimal six months. If you could find out all the players in. The scientific studiesok. Live anthrax was shipped out and no one takes responsibility. No one can answer it. We have identified the problem. Thank you and i yield back. Thank you. Collins from new york. Thank you. The bacteria ground agent such as anthrax completely different than a virus. Easy to kill a virus. Part of the concern i have heard the last question is all we know theres a lot of biological agents, a lot of potential weapon issues going on and i think the concern of the committee if we had this with anthrax might we have it was Something Else like smallpox , whatever . That is where not to give you suggestions you might want to help the committee differentiate bacteria from virus to give them the confidence level, different bargaining going on. He is radiation because your trying to penetrate this poor. You want to penetrate the spore which was hard. The way that you prove its death, the death certificate is take a sample and put it in culture and try to grow it. You make that clear. I am guessing the problem is they put it in culture for a month command it should have been in culture for six months. Is that safe to assume that they did not run the culture just long enough . We cannot identify for certain but it is a possibility. Anthrax grows in culture within two days generally. No. It can last six months. This is where you take Something Like anthrax which is a spore which can pop up at five months time if its arriving in the spore five months and someone is creating a death certificate after two months they are saying it is dead. It germinates and grows. That happens within 48 hours i can beg to differ. It doesnt grow in a month two months and then in five months it shows up. I would suggest respectfully that i believe the big issue here was it was not radiated with enough intensity but to validate that it was dead they put it in culture to see if it would have. If it was in culture 48 hours and did not drop did not grow i can tell you your problem right now. You did not put it in culture long enough. Best practice and industry you will see that batch sit in the refrigerator or in the freezer for six months and have that culture spore for six months not 48 hours. I think you would have to agree if it is in that culture for six months it is dead in a doornail. Again, this is different than a virus. I think some of that confusion is going on. You doyou do the best certificate at the lab after it has been radiated and held in isolation until the culture test is run and then say i did not see anything. Now the entire batches good to go. That is what happens. Shipped out exempt because it had the death certificate the issue would be that is up to the lab to decide. At this. In time the sterility testing is a laboratory procedure. There we will be additional requirements as a result of this incident. And that is what i encourage you to do my think that it falls apart. You trust these labs to be at the top of there game. I can assurei can assure you best practice and private industry on anthrax and on see death is six months. Six months of testing. Fortyeight hours. That is best practice. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you, and we now recognize the congresswoman from indiana for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing. I have to say in my prior role i was chair of the subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness response communication for Homeland Security and it opened my eyes to the vital need to protect the American People and our country from bio attacks and bio defense incidents. I will say that at that time i learned this administration did away with a position that have been in place under the Clinton Administration the Bush Administration called the special assistant to the president for bio defense. I think we learned about that position being eliminated when the ebola attack when people if this country. I think it goes to the. Of what doctor crosses talking about as a government we are not theyre is no central line of authority no central entity, no person who all of these issues bubble up to that as a government we have a massive enterprise with so many different wellintentioned hardworking scientists and government workers but yet theyre is when it comes to bio defense for this country no organization and we are not doing a good enough job. Later this week we will be introducing legislation that addresses the need to strengthen and streamline the existing bio defense initiative. I have a question. If lab workers or other medical professionals have been exposed to live anthrax apples are you confident as to whether or not we would have had proper vaccines and therapeutics in place to save lives . Am confident that we do. Are you confident, doctor hassell . Okay. Are you confident that we have enough proper vaccines and therapeutics in place to save lives . I do not have sufficient information to answer that question. Nor do i. Would that be for the workers that are being exposed or how about with respect to the Committee Building on the congressmans questions about one of these individuals if you have been exposed to presented to any our . Can you explain to me what your view is if you have one . Thank you for that question. The Strategic National stockpile did provide vaccine for the states that have workers while receiving prophylaxis. I am confident we have the ability to do it the vast supply of countermeasures for anthrax,anthrax, the nature of the events you might be trying to prepare for always determines whether you have enough but theyre have been a variety of processes and procedures to review the requirements set by the federal government for this threat and we meet those cant requirements. How we can ensure that we have the medical countermeasures in place. That is my colleagues purview. What i think this event going back to what this shows us while we are trying to respond to the managerial level are you familiar with the private sector involvement with the medical Countermeasure Development of procurement . I have done some past work looking at how the federal government has built flexible manufacturing facilities to be able to respond. I have nothing to add. Okay. I would like to go back to with respect to the death certificate is it building on congressman mullins question could both of you please explain with more detail how that congress how that process works and how that process works what is required to be placed on the death certificate and if you are sending these spores to another lab what is it that the one lab should have that the other lab what is common in looking at the death certificate . Is the organism required to be listed on not listed when doing the sample blind test . Can you please go into more detail . I am sorry that my time is up. If we might have a couple more minutes. One more minute and if you could submit any further explanation writing. If i may we could submit our explanation. We are considering not using death certificates and current operation. At least we are reevaluating that. That is of concern. The laboratory itself makes the determination about death certificates. That is not a select agent regulation requirement. Thank you and i yield back. Chairman. Last words. The chair now recognizes the congressman from North Carolina. Thank you for bearing with us. Would you like to expand on my colleagues question . I need to get more detail on that and get a better answer. Okay. I noi know the cdc does issue a death certificate with materials on the occasions it needs to my do not no the particular details. I would appreciate it if you would follow up. Common practice to send a death certificate when you are doing online sample. We would love to see a more thorough answer. Overall if anyone on the panel trying to grasp the mission of the federal select Agent Program your understanding and if you think it is being fulfilled open to anybody. Clearly the incidence you have seen a serious the kinds of indicators that we need to do more. An Important Message from us as forhistory for the regulation and authorization in 2,002 this program has continued to receive input and advice from bond broadspectrum improving the program which has changed and improved over time. Thisthis incident and these incidents have elevated the importance of some procedures requiring more direct oversight and review which we will address if there is a broad question about how many labs. Important andimportant critical policy questions. The federal enter agency has an Important Role. Cdc will contribute. When consensus is achieved what direction is given we will follow the instructions the mission is worthy and salvageable . Absolutely. Dugway has had problems in the past. It has been referenced body of times. In summation how does this continue to keep happening and how do you see us getting out of the cycle . This falls under the army the army takes this seriously at the highest level which sounds easy to say,say, but my interactions with them, this is taken personally and seriously. The secretary of the army on down is taking action. They will look at issues specific to dugway but not limiting it to that. It is not just that this can be a better reporting chain. Theyre may be opportunities that arise. The laboratory that you sent rid. Many have capabilities. Perhaps it was preventing the free flow of information i am not sure that is the case. Getting all the laboratory is working Better Together standardizing where appropriate and moving forward. I guess i would offer this to the gal or oig what existing tools would allow it to better oversee and take corrective actions . We have a concern that the reporting is just one level up from the lab and more Senior Management is not necessarily informed. Focused within the laboratory but not necessarily ensuring the accountability of the chain of command is occurring. We are just undertaking work at the request of this committee. The scientific questions how the methods validated. I appreciate that. I appreciate your testimony. I want to thank the witnesses for coming and really a conversation i had. I am urging him to have a hearing later this fall for the end of the year after you ive figured out what your improvements in the standardization and oversight are going to be what i have found is what we have some crisis like this witnesses come in and say we need to do better. Oig and gal command. I have urged the chairman command i think he is an agreement to hold your feet to the fire to make sure these improvements gaps you have identified are felt the standards and coordination plans are completed. I believe he will have the hearing. On both sides of the aisle we agree that needs to be done. I would ask you that we have some accountability. Several questions have been about how many people would lose their job. That is something we will be looking for to see how many people have lost their jobs. With that in conclusion i would like to thank the witnesses and members who have participated. Membersmembers have ten Business Days to submit questions for the record and i ask witnesses agree to respond promptly. With that the meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] q a. [inaudible conversations] federal Communications Commission chair testified on capitol hill about the increased use of Video Streaming Services and efforts to provide Broadband Internet access and rural areas. Joined by republican commissioner. This hearing on communications and technology is three hours. We will call the subcommittee on communications and technology to order. I want to welcome everyone here today and wish you a good morning. Delighted to have you back before the subcommittee. We appreciate the work you are doing at the fcc and look forward to your testimony and opportunities to pursue issues. At the risk of sounding like a broken record i continue to be concerned that the commissions failure to adhere to sound regulatory process. I have consistently pushed to make the fcc a better more Transparent Agency but the chasm between commissioners deepens over time. In the committee considered process reform legislation i hope we reach the bottom of the well and the commission would find its way back to the collegiality that has characterized it since 1934. Unfortunately that appears not to be the case. Things might actually be getting worse which is disappointing to say the least. With all that is going on we have much ground to cover in todays hearing which likely will necessitate a 2nd round of questioning. Let me highlight five areas of policy concern that i and other members of the committee have. For a successful auctiona successful auction we know that sellers and buyers must fully understand and support the rules. When it comes to the plan questions and uncertainty abounds. Layered on top is growing concern including as it relates to the television stations and translators. It was never our intent that these voices but the silence. There are the issues of potential interference with whatwith this handle and can do men auction as has occurred. The action on the designated entity issue raises concerns. Concerns. They claim the changes will strengthen the integrity of the program but sadly they simply replace one set of rules foryou said. The commissions rules remove the obligation to provide facilities based service that sets the stage for a sophisticated spectrum arbitrage are to participate in the next spectrum auction bringing nothing to the competitive market. The chairmans advocacy is puzzling given the assurances that the changes would protect the program from people taking advantage of loopholes to unjustly enrich there clientele. My colleague from new mexico and i have had serious discussion about the approach that has been taken as it relates to the fundamental nature of democracy and practical communication. Beyond that members are beginning to here from adversely affected users about the disruption this we will have. Expansion of the lifeline program. All one has to do is read the day story and politico to understand why it is so essential before any agency moves to spend money it should have tight control on the budget. For ratepayers in a partyline vote the fcc decided to rush forward with little reform and no limit. Amid this world of controversy that continues to surroun

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