Source: US Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), 9/21/15

Richard Burr Newsletter: New legislation including a Charlotte weather radar update, pandemic and bio attack preparedness, drugs for rare diseases, conservation, and a visit from some Wilmington guide dogs in training.

Last week, Congress voted again to reject the President’s nuclear deal with Iran. I still firmly believe that this deal with Iran is not in the best interest of the American people, or our allies. It is a self-evident fact that Iran has a horrific record of complying with its nonproliferation commitments. And when our best tools are 'faith’ and 'hope’, we are putting our own national security, as well as our allies, at risk.

Conservation Funding:
As many of you know, the Land and Water Conservation Fund expires at the end of the month. North Carolina has depended on this fund, which isn’t paid for by taxpayer dollars, for some of our best loved parks including:
• Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests
• Cape Lookout National Seashore
• Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

I joined with a bipartisan group of 52 Senators calling on our Senate leaders to act soon on this important fund renewal. I sat down with Asheville’s ABC TV station WLOS to talk about the LWCF and its effect on the Asheville area.

New Legislation:
In legislative news, I introduced three key pieces of legislation. The Advancing Targeted Therapies for Rare Diseases Act of 2015 , Metropolitan Weather Hazards Protection Act of 2015, and the Medical Countermeasure Innovation Act of 2015.

1. The Metropolitan Weather Hazards Protection Act of 2015, willupgrade our Doppler radar weather detection system. As residents of Charlotte probably already know, there is a large gap in radar coverage over the city. This leaves citizens vulnerable to sudden extreme weather events like the tornado that destroyed nearly 200 homes in 2012.


I worked with my North Carolina colleagues Rep. Alma Adams, Rep. Robert Pittenger, and Sen. Thom Tillis to make sure that our local meteorologists have the tools they need to keep North Carolinians informed about dangerous weather.

2. The second bill focuses on improving public safety and preparedness is the Medical Countermeasure Innovation Act of 2015. This legislation encourages the development of medical countermeasures, including drugs, devices and preventative treatments, needed to protect the American people in the event of a global pandemic or biological weapon attack.
The American people expect our government to do everything possible to prevent an attack against us and, if one should occur, be ready to respond, including having as many safe and effective medical countermeasures as readily available as possible.

This legislation will help protect the American against a range of threats we may face, whether naturally occurring or the result of an attack. As Senate Intelligence Chairman, I know that these threats are real and that we must be prepared for a variety of attacks on our homeland – from cyber to biological.

3. The third bill I introduced is the Advancing Targeted Therapies for Rare Diseases Act of 2015 which will help advance the development of targeted drugs for patients with serious or life-threatening rare genetic diseases. This is a bipartisan bill that is also sponsored by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

This legislation will help fulfill this potential for patients in North Carolina and across our nation by facilitating the development of targeted drugs for rare diseases like some types of cancer, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. I’m proud of North Carolina’s innovators and the work they are doing on behalf of patients, and it is my hope that this legislation will facilitate many life-saving treatments that give hope to families who are battling rare diseases.