The measure, said to be a priority of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., would shift the main responsibility for developing bioterrorism countermeasures out of the Department of Homeland Security and into the Biological Advanced Research and Development Agency in the Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency would be given a first-year budget of $1 billion and some unusually strong powers:
* Authority to shield drug manufacturers from liability lawsuits if a drug used to counteract a bioterrorism event or disease outbreak caused death or injury.
* Exemption from the federal open records law, the Freedom of Information Act.
The legislation creating the agency was introduced by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., on Oct. 17 and approved the next day by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Frist is one of five Republican co-sponsors.
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