URGENT! Unlimited Smallpox Vaccine Powers in New Homeland Security Bill
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The new Homeland Security Department bill has hit the floor of the House of Representatives this afternoon, and will be voted on tonight! Most of the Members won�t even have a chance to read the 480 pages of H.R. 5701 before they vote on it in hours. But we have and some of it is alarmingly familiar, reading like the state Model Emergency Health Powers Acts (MEHPA) that so many have worked so hard to defeat this year. Instead of giving the unlimited powers to a governor, the powers will now be bestowed on the Secretary of HHS. Specifically, Section 304, Subsection C �Administration of counter measures against smallpox� gives the Secretary of HHS these unchecked powers (pg. 76):
Also, if you are harmed, you cannot sue or take any other civil remedy. This section will give the Secretary unlimited power to define a real or potential threat, to take any measures he decides, and to do it for as long as he wants. WE MUST ELIMINATE THIS SECTION AND WE MUST ACT QUICKLY IMMEDIATELY tell your Member of Congress not to pass the bill tonight with Section 304, Subsection C �Administration of counter measures against smallpox.� This section must be deleted until we have an honest accounting of how much power it would give the Secretary. Questions to be answered:
Contact your Member of Congress: www.house.gov/writerep Contact the White House: [email protected] Read the text of the subsection (1 page): Click Here Read the text of entire bill: Click Here
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