WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2014
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications.
WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2014 - Title I: A National Biodefense Enterprise - Requires the President to assign a member of the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President for Biodefense to: (1) serve as the President's principal advisor regarding coordination of federal biodefense policy; (2) identify inefficiencies in existing biodefense activities and the actions necessary to overcome them; (3) lead the development of a coordinated National Biodefense Plan, a coordinated National Biosurveillance Strategy, and a coordinated national research and development strategy and implementation plan for microbial forensics; (4) oversee, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the development of a comprehensive cross-cutting biodefense budget analysis to inform prioritization of resources and ensure that biodefense challenges are adequately addressed; and (5) conduct ongoing oversight and evaluation of implementation of federal biodefense activities by relevant government agencies.
Directs the Special Assistant to submit to the President and update as necessary a National Biodefense Plan that:
defines the scope and purpose of a national biodefense capability;
identifies biological risks to the nation and activities and tasks to be performed to address them;
defines organizational roles, responsibilities, and coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities with respect to such activities and tasks;
defines research and development needs for improving the capacity for threat awareness and prevention, protection, response, and recovery;
identifies biodefense assets, interdependencies, and capability gaps;
provides goals and performance measures;
identifies resource and investment needs;
integrates and supports the strategies outlined in Presidential Policy Directives 2 and 8 and Homeland Security Presidential Directives 5, 9, 10, 18, and 21, the National Biosurveillance Strategy, and the National Medical Countermeasure Dispensing Strategy;
is consistent with the National Response Framework;
incorporates input from federal, state, local, and tribal stakeholders; and
provides planning guidance to biosecurity and biodefense stakeholders.
Directs the Special Assistant to publish and update every four years a National Biosurveillance Strategy that:
The summary continues for 75 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 11, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 27, 2014: Referred to the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
WILLIAM PASCRELL (D-NJ) introduced it on February 11, 2014, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 11, 2014, 4594 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4578 days ago, on February 27, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers