We need to be vigilant and improve our ability to rapidly detect and respond to chemical or biological attacks. We must provide our emergency personnel with the resources they need.
Provide the emergency personnel needed to rapidly detect and respond to chemical or biological attacks.
Occurrences
Evidence
The bill includes funding for laboratory facilities, operations, and infrastructure improvements for NBACC and CSAC. NBACC ... is one of the few biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) labs in the country dedicated to conducting experiments and studies to better understand biological vulnerabilities and hazards ... CSAC ... provides a crucial knowledge repository of chemical threat information, design and execution of laboratory and field tests, and a science-based threat and risk analysis capability for federal, state, and local governments and first responders. ... The bill provides $3.5 billion for grants and training to state, local, Tribal, and territorial entities to help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from both manmade and natural threats, including hurricanes, terrorist attacks, wildfires, and more.
The funding will enhance departments’ emergency response capabilities through hiring, training, and acquisition of critical emergency equipment. ... Baltimore City Fire Department ... provide training in trench rescue and hazardous materials response ... Baltimore County Fire Department ... advanced rescue training for 1,300 personnel ... The awards are provided through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG), the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER), and the Fire Prevention and Safety Grant (FP&S) programs ...
The official press-release index lists lookback-window items dated 06.09.26 through 07.02.26, with titles/snippets on State Department workforce, financial regulators, Gaza evacuation, disaster designation, ocean monitoring, veterans homebuying, state priorities, clean shipping, EPA employees, and whistleblowers; no listed lookback item is a concrete CBRN emergency-personnel delivery notice.
Van Hollen's FY26 secured-projects page lists fire/rescue and emergency-response investments, including a Cambridge fire and rescue truck, a new Crisfield fire department and emergency shelter, Baltimore Computer-Aided Dispatch replacement for fire/police response, Joint 911 Public Safety Center technology, and Homeland Security projects for emergency operations center communications and equipment upgrades.
The Senate roll call records Vote 200 on S. 870, a bill to authorize appropriations for the U.S. Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs. The motion was agreed to 88-2, and Van Hollen (D-MD) is recorded as voting Yea.
The official release says the Senators secured FY2024 Homeland Security appropriations items including NBACC and CSAC funding. It describes CSAC as providing chemical-threat information, laboratory and field tests, and threat/risk analysis for federal, state, and local governments and first responders; it also cites EMI and $3.5 billion for preparedness grants and training.
Congress.gov records S.1915 became Public Law 114-268. Its summary says DHS, with HHS, must carry out a pilot program providing eligible anthrax vaccines to emergency response providers at high risk of exposure if an attack occurs, with education, training, logistics, and state/local guidance.
The archived White House signing statement for the FY2004 Homeland Security appropriations bill says the law provided $5.6 billion for Project BioShield, $4 billion in grants for first responders, training and equipment for firefighters, police, and emergency medical personnel, and more than $900 million for science and technology including biological-weapons countermeasures.
Assessments
The record shows meaningful federal support for related emergency-response capacity, including later Van Hollen-backed appropriations for biodefense and chemical-threat analysis centers, preparedness grants and training, firefighter assistance, and Maryland emergency-response infrastructure. However, the evidence does not show that he delivered the specific promised outcome of providing dedicated emergency personnel needed to rapidly detect and respond to chemical or biological attacks. Same-term homeland-security funding and later first-responder programs partially address the goal, but they are broader preparedness and infrastructure measures rather than a clear CBRN emergency-personnel delivery.
The promise was made in the 2002 federal House campaign context and concerned providing emergency personnel needed for rapid chemical or biological attack detection and response. The evidence shows Van Hollen later helped secure or announce federal funding for firefighter staffing, emergency response training, hazardous materials response, emergency equipment, biodefense and chemical-threat facilities, and preparedness grants. That materially advances the general emergency response and CBRN preparedness goal, but the record provided does not show that he delivered a discrete, comprehensive personnel program specifically providing the emergency personnel needed to rapidly detect and respond to chemical or biological attacks during his House term. Because the strongest evidence is from later Senate-era appropriations and delegation funding, credit should be partial with later-term timing, and effort credit is warranted.