Durbin: Republican Inaction On Zika Virus Threatens Public Health Preparedness & Response In Illinois

Press Release

As a result of Congressional Republicans' refusal to fund emergency actions combatting the spread of the Zika virus, Illinois and other states are losing access to critical public health resources, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said today. To prevent additional resources from being diverted away from states like Illinois, Durbin called for the immediate full funding of President Obama's request for emergency appropriations to fight the Zika virus.

"Illinois should not have to lose precious funding to deal with public health threats because Republican Congressional leaders have refused to pass the necessary additional funding to deal with Zika," Durbin said.

Although the Obama Administration requested emergency supplemental funding over two months ago to fight the spread of the Zika virus, Republicans in Congress have refused to act.

In the absence of Congressional action to provide additional funding, the Administration has been forced to divert critical public health resources away from states like Illinois in order to deal with the Zika crisis. This loss of resources threatens the states' ability to address other public health emergencies, like the recent outbreak of Elizabethkingia in Illinois.

"Let me talk about why diverting $2 million from my state of Illinois to southern states for Zika is a challenge. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week confirmed ten cases of a bacterial infection known as Elizabethkingia," Durbin said. "It's resulted in six deaths in my state. So in the middle of this outbreak, Illinois is losing 8 percent in core funding for public health contingencies because of the failure of Republican leaders in Congress to pass President Obama's emergency Zika supplemental funding request."

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