Bush's Visit Spotlights CDC's Needs; Buildings Old, Often Crowded

President George W. Bush will today become the first sitting US president to visit the CDC. Several hours after touring the Atlanta facility, Bush will give a major address on homeland security at the Georgia World Congress Center. Bush's CDC visit is being billed as a chance for him to meet the anthrax investigation corps. "It's great to have them get positive reinforcement from him directly," CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan said Wednesday. "A lot of folks are working hard, long hours." "This is like a president visiting the troops on the front line in a war," said Dr. William Roper, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health and a former director of the CDC. "It has very important morale-boosting qualities."

By visiting the agency now, Bush should also see that the entire public health system needs funds, said Dr. James Curran, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and former chief of CDC's HIV division. "I'm sure the president will see buildings that are in need of repair, but he will also, I think, hear about the need for greater support at local and state levels for public health."

Bush is expected to spend only 30 minutes at the CDC today -- enough time to tour the headquarters, meet some staff members and talk informally to the anthrax investigation corps. His visit is also expected to focus renewed attention on the agency's aging facilities. Parts of the CDC's physical plant have not been renovated since the agency was founded in the 1940s. Some buildings, recently torn down, had been condemned as unsafe after walls sagged and floors collapsed. In some buildings, jerry- rigged shelters made of rain gutters, duct tape and 5-gallon buckets have been constructed to protect computers from dripping air ducts. In addition to its two main campuses, the CDC rents space in more than 20 additional locations around Atlanta. This wide distribution of staff has become a security risk since Sept. 11.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill boosting the CDC's overall budget to $4.4 billion, including $250 million for buildings and facilities. This is $100 million more than the president's budget calls for, and $75 million more than specified by the House of Representatives. The House and Senate amounts must be brought into alignment in committee.

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