U.S. Rep Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) testified May 7 before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. She did so in part to clarify several points raised by a recently released committee survey on U.S. hospital emergency preparedness.

The committee had surveyed 34 Level I trauma hospitals in seven cities, including Minneapolis, to determine whether the hospitals would have been able to handle a public-health emergency on the scale of the 2004 terrorist bombing in Madrid. There, 270 victims were transported to one hospital in the attack that killed 191 and injured more than 1,800. During her testimony, McCollum said the survey gave an incomplete picture of Twin Cities' hospitals' preparedness. See full comments of her testimony here: [PDF].