United States HR 2707: Protecting American Families and Servicemembers from Anthrax Act

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 2707
To develop a modernized strategy for ensuring the defense of the United
States from the anthrax threat, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 8, 2025
Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina (for himself and Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To develop a modernized strategy for ensuring the defense
of the United States from the anthrax threat, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 4
Families and Servicemembers from Anthrax Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEVELOPING A MODERNIZED STRATEGY FOR EN-1
SURING THE DEFENSE OF THE UNITED 2
STATES FROM THE ANTHRAX THREAT. 3
(a) MODERNIZED STRATEGY.— 4
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 5
after the date of enactment of this Act, the covered 6
Secretaries shall develop a modernized 10-year strat-7
egy for ensuring sustained stockpiling of anthrax 8
countermeasures, including the replenishment, con-9
sistent with requirement levels, of such anthrax 10
countermeasures stockpiled— 11
(A) in the Strategic National Stockpile 12
under section 319F–2(a) of the Public Health 13
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–6b(a)); or 14
(B) by the Secretary of Defense, including 15
such anthrax countermeasures stockpiled in 16
protection and treatment of civilians, 17
servicemembers, and dependents on military in-18
stallations. 19
(2) COOPERATION AND SUSTAINABILITY.—The 20
strategy described in paragraph (1) shall ensure in-21
novative cooperation with, and sustainability of, 22
manufacturers of anthrax countermeasures. 23
(b) REPORTING.— 24
(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 25
after the date of enactment of this Act, the covered 26
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Secretaries shall submit to the appropriate congres-1
sional committees a report on— 2
(A) the threat, to the people and military 3
installations of the United States, of 4
weaponized anthrax from foreign countries, for-5
eign terrorist organizations (as designated by 6
the Secretary of State in accordance with sec-7
tion 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 8
Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a))), and other threat 9
streams; 10
(B) programs and activities of the Federal 11
Government (other than programs and activities 12
under the Public Health Emergency Medical 13
Countermeasure Enterprise, such as multi-year 14
budgets, research and development investments, 15
and countermeasure procurements) that ad-16
dress the modernized strategy under subsection 17
(a)(1), including such programs and activities 18
that address multidrug-resistant strains; and 19
(C) initiatives of the Federal Government 20
to ensure adequate availability of anthrax coun-21
termeasures for treatment of military depend-22
ents on United States military installations in 23
foreign countries. 24
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(2) INCLUSION OF MODERNIZED STRATEGY.— 1
The report under paragraph (1) shall include the 2
modernized strategy under subsection (a)(1). 3
(3) ANNUAL UPDATES.—Following the submis-4
sion of the report under paragraph (1), the covered 5
Secretaries shall, on an annual basis, submit to the 6
appropriate congressional committees an update to 7
such report. 8
(4) FORM.—The report under paragraph (1) 9
and the updates under paragraph (3) shall be sub-10
mitted in classified form but may include an unclas-11
sified annex. 12
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
(1) ANTHRAX COUNTERMEASURE.—The term 14
‘‘anthrax countermeasure’’— 15
(A) means a drug, device, or biological 16
product intended to counter the effects of an-17
thrax that is approved, cleared, classified, li-18
censed, or otherwise authorized by the Food 19
and Drug Administration; and 20
(B) includes an antitoxin and a prophy-21
lactic. 22
(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT-23
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-24
mittees’’ means— 25
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(A) the Committee on Appropriations of 1
the House of Representatives; 2
(B) the Committee on Appropriations of 3
the Senate; 4
(