Amendment No. 481

AMENDMENT NO. 481

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support funding for the construction of the Ames, IA, animal health facilities laboratory. That is the National Animal Disease Laboratory—a national facility, not an Iowa facility—in Ames, IA. I heard my colleagues question the relevance of this provision. I am here now to explain to all my colleagues the importance of this facility to America's national security.

In the event of an animal disease outbreak, this facility in Iowa will play a very crucial role. Whether the issue is bioterrorism or a new or emerging disease, this facility will be centrally involved. Modernization of this facility that was built three or four decades ago is a paramount priority to ensure America's agricultural biosecurity and the safeguard of our food supply. Both the Department of Agriculture in Washington, as well as this Congress, have recognized the importance of moving forward with this modernization project as quickly as possible.

I quote from a May 2001 report which was issued by the Secretary of Agriculture:

The Agricultural Research Service and Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service partnership in Ames represents an unmatched team of scientific and response personnel providing expertise and skill to address known and emerging domestic animal disease threats.

Our current national threat level demonstrates that we need to be aware of our environment and prepared for realistic threats. Animal disease is a realistic threat to all Americans because it affects our food safety and supply.
Even without bioterrorism, we know what mad cow disease, for instance, has done to agriculture and to the people of England, as one example; and that carried over to Europe a year later and it has recently scared the consumers of Japan. That is not even bioterrorism; that is just a natural course of animal disease and, in fact, how that in turn impacts upon whether humans live.

The Ames lab is very important as we talk about the safety of our food. This lab is the best large research and diagnostic facility in the United States. Unfortunately, after all these decades, it is obsolete. It does not even meet international standards. Nearly every other livestock trading nation has superior facilities. They understand the importance of effective and expedient diagnostic competency. The Ames lab is a surveillance hub for animal disease in the United States. It is the closest thing we have for agriculture and livestock health to human health with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA. Doesn't it seem unbelievable that the Ames facility does not have the electrical capacity to handle new computers necessary to update the facility, let alone a complex array of essential electronic diagnostic equipment? This is more than an embarrassment for our Government. It is a national security risk.

We have worked through many different scenarios to improve this facility. We have evaluated leaving the current facility in place and renovating the existing facility to bring it in to the 21st century. We found in the interest of the taxpayers that the most cost-effective method to bring this facility up to speed is to start over from the ground up.

Let me be clear. This $98 million is not full funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture master plan. This amendment only affords us the opportunity to build the laboratory. The laboratory is clearly critical for research, diagnosis, and prevention of all animal disease threats. We cannot afford to delay construction. We need to be prepared, and this is the only way to reach an optimum level of security.

Remember, we have already appropriated some money for other aspects of this renovation, and this still will not complete the renovation of the animal disease laboratory to what is planned by the Department of Agriculture.

The fact is, the Ames laboratory is the cornerstone of the planned National Animal Health Laboratory Network. The Ames facility is a fundamental element required to protect American agriculture and to improve food safety.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues not to support this amendment to delete but instead vote for continuing the process that is already in place, that has expended tens of millions of dollars of the taxpayers' money in partial renovation. To move one step closer toward that renovation for the safety of our food supply means to vote against the McCain amendment. I yield the floor.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I have a great deal of respect for Senator McCain. He is very consistent. I want to only argue with one point. This is a national facility. It was located decades ago in my State for reasons that I believe are closely related to Iowa State University being a very good land grant and research institution.

Second, the issue of whether this is legitimate at this point is best justified by the fact that this renovation has already been reauthorized, and this is just one more step by the Congress in carrying out a decision that Congress previously made that this facility that is now decades old should be renovated for the good of the safety of food in the United States.