Cornyn: Senate Can Respond to Zika Threat Without Adding to Debt

Statement

In remarks on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) encouraged support for legislation he introduced with U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) allocating $1.1 billion in new federal funding, paid for through corresponding spending cuts, to combat the growing threat posed by the Zika virus in Texas and across the country. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn's remarks are below, and video of his speech can be found here.

"Shortly the Senate will vote on three different versions of appropriation bills that will provide the needed money to help combat the anticipated challenges we're going to have with the Zika virus."

"[One] is a piece of legislation I've introduced that I would certainly ask for my colleagues to support. This is fully offset out of something called the Prevention and Public Health Fund that was created by the Affordable Care Act."

"The Affordable Care Act provides that this Prevention and Public Health Fund is to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs. I can't imagine any more urgent public health program, or one that we should be looking to prevent, than this particular threat, the Zika virus."

"The Prevention and Public Health Fund has been used to fund some things… like promoting free pet neutering, encouraging urban gardening, and boosting bicycle clubs. Certainly prevention of these horrific birth defects and the threat of the Zika virus spreading to the continental U.S. and its impact on our population is more important than these."

"Please, let's deal with this threat in a responsible sort of way that we all agree we should, but let's do so in a fiscally responsible way as well. There's just no reason to gratuitously add to the deficit and the debt. We can do this in a responsible way, both from a public health standpoint and fiscally as well."

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