Zika Virus

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I wish to address two different issues this morning, but I think both are timely and important.

The first issue I will address has to do with a telephone conversation I had a few minutes ago with Dr. Thomas Frieden. Dr. Frieden heads up the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. Most Americans don't know much about the agency, but the title speaks for itself. The CDC, as we call it, is America's first line of defense in a public health crisis. When we think that Americans--individuals and families--are in danger or vulnerable, we call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ask them to analyze the challenge and then give us the right public health response to that challenge.

A few months ago, I went to their campus in Atlanta, GA. It is very impressive, not just for the buildings but also for the people who are there. We have some of the best health researchers in the world working for our Federal Government at CDC--most of them at financial sacrifice. They want to be part of solving problems and protecting America. Just as the folks in the Pentagon across the river believe in the protection of America, so do the people at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is our first line of defense against public health attacks.

This morning I called Dr. Frieden to talk about the Zika virus. I have come to know him and have worked with him over the years. Most people have learned about it by now. We are learning more about it every single day. We have kind of traced its origin to South America, and now it is moving north. It is moving north into Puerto Rico in a big way, and Florida is likely to be the next State to witness the Zika virus being transmitted by mosquitoes. Then, frankly, the whole United States is vulnerable. Not only can this virus be transmitted to an individual if they are bit by a mosquito, but it can also be transmitted by the sexual contact of a person already infected by the virus. If you have the virus and a mosquito bites you and then bites your wife, you may have just transmitted the virus to her through that mosquito. We are learning.

The reason why this is more than just a mosquito bite and an irritation is that this virus can cause serious public health problems. We know that pregnant women with this virus run the risk of giving birth to babies with difficulties and serious problems, and so we are monitoring it very closely.

How many employees at CDC are working on the Zika virus threat to America? There are 1,000. When you think of all of the things that we need to worry about, they believe--and, I think, rightly so--that this is the imminent public health threat to our country. There are a lot of unanswered questions about the Zika virus, such as these: How long does it stay in an individual? How long can an individual who is infected with the virus transmit it to another person? For those who are carrying the virus, what impact does it have on their health? What impact does it have on a pregnant woman carrying this virus?

It turns out there are literally hundreds now in the United States who have been infected with the Zika virus. We expect some lull in the number of cases, and then they are going to pick up in intensity and number this summer. We also know--and the announcement will be made soon--that there are pregnant women in the United States who have been infected by the Zika virus.

The obvious question is this: Are we doing everything we should be doing to protect America?

Sadly, the answer is no, we are not.

Two months ago, President Obama said to the Congress: I need a supplemental emergency appropriation to deal with this threat. He asked for $1.9 billion. They want to monitor the Zika virus and how it is traveling across the United States. They want to monitor those who have already been infected. They want to develop a vaccine that we can take that will protect us in the future.

From where I am standing, I can't think of a single public health challenge in America as great as this Zika virus at this moment. One would think that the Congress, now that they know the facts, would have moved instantly to provide the money to the President--this emergency supplemental appropriation of $1.9 billion. But the answer is they have done nothing. The leaders in the House and in the Senate have done nothing to provide emergency funds to this administration to deal with this public health emergency.

It is so bad that this week a Republican leader in the House announced publicly that he didn't see any emergency. He thinks we may get around to an appropriation for this in October. Well, I don't know what his lifestyle is like, but in the Midwest we have a tendency to get out on the patio and have barbecues and invite our friends and neighbors over. We worry about mosquitoes. It doesn't start in October. It starts now. I don't know if this Republican Congressman plans on sending a memo to the mosquitoes across America saying: no buzzing and biting until October when we get around to this. It won't work.

This has been declared an emergency by not only the President but by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why aren't we acting? Why aren't we doing something? We should be doing something.

We are going to leave today. This afternoon we will vote and go home. We will be back in probably 10 or 11 days. Maybe then the Republican leadership in the House and Senate will decide this is an emergency that needs a response. The numbers will start coming in--the number of people across America who are facing this virus--and the concern among American families is going to grow. This is not just an irritation. This is a danger to many people and certainly to women who could be pregnant. This is something we ought to be taking extremely seriously. We have been waiting for 2 months for this Congress to respond with an emergency appropriation to do something.

I have called on the leadership in the Senate this week, and I will continue to do so today and when we return. There is no excuse. God forbid this gets worse and we look back and say: We waited too long; we didn't respond.

Let me add one other thing. The only suggestion we have heard from the Republican side is this: Let's take some of the money we set aside to fight Ebola in Africa and use it for this purpose.

I talked to Dr. Friedman about that. He said: It is true; there has been a real drop in the number of Ebola cases.

Ebola is a deadly disease in West Africa and other places, and we worried about it coming to the United States. He said that we are still learning about how this disease travels.

There was a man who was cured after being diagnosed with Ebola in Africa, and they just learned that a year after he was cured, he transmitted the disease by sexual contact to another person. Even when we think we have cured and solved it, there is still a danger.

Let's make sure that we treat all of these public health hazards for what they are--dangerous to the United States and dangerous to our families. God forbid that something terrible happen. I hope it doesn't. Let's do our job here on Capitol Hill. When the President says we need resources to fight this, we do. I hope we move on it very quickly when we return.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source