Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, by now we have all seen reports of the neurological damage that is done by the Zika virus. We have seen the damage it can do to newborn infants. It has been clinically linked to serious birth defects in pregnant women who contract it.

Since the start of the outbreak, nearly 900 Americans in 41 States, Washington, DC, and 3 U.S. territories--including over 80 pregnant women--have already contracted Zika. In my State of Illinois, 13 people have already tested positive, including at least two pregnant women.

But because we have the best scientists and researchers in the world at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we know more today about the virus and prevention measures than we did when most of us first heard the word ``Zika'' a few months ago.

We know that mosquitoes spread the disease. We know that the arrival of warm weather signals the start of mosquito season, but America is currently unprepared to deal with an outbreak of this dangerous virus. We must improve vector control. We must expand access to family planning, education, and contraception. We must accelerate efforts to develop a vaccine as quickly as humanly possible.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention desperately needs funding to deal with this crisis, and they need it now before the summer months, when mosquitoes spread north across the United States.

Congress has failed to even consider President Obama's emergency Zika funding request. What on Earth is Congress waiting for?

Last week Senate Democrats sent a letter to Senate Republican leadership calling for immediate action to pass the Zika supplemental request. I hope this call for action will be heard by all of my Republican colleagues, but I especially hope that it resonates with my colleagues from the Southern States. These are the States that are the most likely to be hit first and hardest by the Zika mosquito virus: Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, and the list goes on.

In the absence of congressional action--immediate congressional action--the administration has been forced to divert funding and resources away from other important public health efforts in order to respond to Zika.

This morning's Washington Post headline in a few words tells the story: ``Zika crisis costs states funds for emergency preparedness.'' What does that mean? The President asked for this supplemental request weeks ago. The refusal of the Republican-led Congress to respond to the President's request for emergency public health funds to fight Zika means that we are cutting back on public health preparedness in States all across the Nation. Frankly, we are endangering people whom we represent because the Republican majority in Congress refuses to give the President his supplemental request to deal with the Zika virus. For instance, the administration just had to divert $2 million in public health emergency preparedness grants away from Illinois in order to fight Zika in Southern States.

Well, let me tell you, I want to help people everywhere, including those in Southern States who are likely to be hit first, but not at the expense of the public health of the people I represent.

There is an answer. President Obama suggests it--an emergency public health supplemental for the Zika virus.

The Republican majority in Congress has refused to act. Both the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Chicago Department of Public Health received grants to prepare for and to respond to all kinds of public outbreaks, such as Ebola, Zika, and Elizabethkingia, which I will talk about in a moment. These cuts, which are being proposed in order to have the administration have enough resources to respond, are unacceptable and unexplainable.

They come at a time when Illinois, my State, is in the middle of the longest budget crisis in our State's history. This current Governor has been unable to reach an agreement on a budget for almost 11 months, making it difficult for Illinois families and State agencies in ordinary circumstances.

But because congressional Republican leaders have failed to pass a Zika emergency public health supplemental requested by President Obama, the administration has had to divert money away from States such as Illinois to respond to the threat of the Zika virus in other States. Is this any way to govern a great Nation?

Illinois should not have to lose precious funding to deal with public health threats because Republican congressional leaders--from Southern states, I might add--have refused to pass the necessary additional funding to deal with Zika, a virus that will likely impact their States first and hardest.

We have to do both. We should pass the Zika supplemental so Illinois and other States can keep the funding they need to deal with current public health threats and receive additional funding to deal with Zika.

Let me talk about why diverting $2 million from my State of Illinois to Southern States for Zika is a challenge.

Last week the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 10 cases of a bacterial infection known as Elizabethkingia. It has resulted in six deaths in my State. This bacterial outbreak is separate from an outbreak in Wisconsin that resulted in over 60 cases of this infection. 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 public health supplemental appropriation.

This means that the Illinois State Department of health is not going to be as prepared as it should be to conduct the needed epidemiology, laboratory testing, and outbreak control. And four of our health experts say there will be major cuts that hurt our ability to respond to public health crises. What happens tomorrow if there is another outbreak?

Last year our State dealt with unexpected serious outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease. Taking money from one State's public health defense effort to give it to another to deal with a public health threat makes no sense in a great nation, particularly when the President showed the appropriate leadership in asking for the $1.9 billion emergency supplemental to deal with the Zika crisis, and the President asked over 2 months ago.

I know many Republicans are in denial when it comes to climate change, but if they would have been in Springfield, IL, my home, last Sunday--just 2 days ago--sitting out on the deck in 80-degree weather in April, they might understand warm weather is coming sooner across the United States and with that warm weather, mosquitoes, and with those mosquitoes, the threat of the Zika virus.

I don't come to raise an alarm that is unmerited and unwarranted. I believe this is a serious public health challenge, so serious we should not leave Congress this week and take a recess without passing the President's emergency budget supplemental for public health and the Zika virus. The mosquitoes are not going to be on recess next week, they are going to be working, and sadly they are going to be infecting people across the South and across the United States while congressional leaders dither.

The supplemental request would provide more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to improve CDC vector control to control the mosquitoes that threaten us. It would accelerate efforts at the National Institutes of Health to develop a vaccine. I have heard testimony, so I know it takes time to develop a vaccine. Let's do it in an expeditious, safe, thoughtful, and professional way, but let us not shortchange NIH or any other agency that is facing this crisis.

We need to expand education. We need to expand access to women's health planning services. The administration provided a comprehensive plan. It cannot be implemented successfully without resources, and we should act on it this week--get it done before we leave.

I joined my colleagues Senator Nelson, Leader Reid, Senator Schumer, and Senator Hirono in introducing a bill to fully fund the administration's request. I am pleased to hear my Republican colleagues on the Committee on Appropriations are interested in working with Democrats to reach a deal. I see Senator Alexander on the floor. I know he is sensitive to this, and I hope he will join in calling for leadership on both sides of the Rotunda to move on this issue before we take our recess.

Let us not delay this any longer. We need to ensure we aren't diverting necessary Ebola money to be used for the Zika virus. It is naive to believe the Ebola threat is gone and we can ignore the possibility of its reemergence. In my State and others, we know all too well what happens when you divert money from one public health fund to another.

This brings to mind the Biblical story of Noah and the great flood. Noah built the arc before the rain, not after it started. It is reckless, it is dangerous to delay. The cases of Zika are continuing to grow, and inaction and further delay put many families, pregnant women, and children in jeopardy.

We have seen the Zika threat coming for many months. We have had the President's request for over 2 months. I urge my colleagues this week, before we go home, to take this appropriate action to begin to protect Americans in every State.

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