S.Amdt. 1481

SA 1481. Mrs. SHAHEEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities
of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to
prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

In the appropriate place please insert the following:
Sense of Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the accidental transfer of suspected bacillus
anthracis, also known as anthrax, from an Army laboratory to
28 laboratories located in 12 states and three countries
discovered in April 2015 represents a serious safety lapse
and a potential threat to public health;
(2) the Department of Defense, in cooperation with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, should continue to investigate the
cause of this lapse and determine if protective protocols
should be strengthened;
(3) the Department of Defense should reassess standards on
a regular basis to ensure they are current and effective to
prevent a reoccurrence; and
(4) the Department of Defense should keep the relevant
defense committees apprised of the investigation, any
potential public health or safety risk, remedial actions
taken and plans to regularly reassess standards.
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