Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, what we do next on Zika is not an ideological test; it is a test of our basic competence. It has nothing to do with one's views on the size and scope of the Federal Government because, after all, if you believe the government should do even just a few things, preventing a catastrophic epidemic has to be one of them.

Zika is a public health emergency, and we have to act now to fund $1.9 billion in supplemental funding to address it, as requested by the public health experts.

I congratulate Senators Nelson, Rubio, Blunt, and Murray for working across the aisle to reach these agreements, and I would especially like to offer my support for the Nelson-Rubio $1.9 billion compromise. The Nelson-Rubio amendment provides the full $1.9 billion in Zika funding through the following: approximately $743 million for the CDC, $277 million for NIH, $335 million for USAID, and $417 million for the State Department. And here is an important aspect of it: It also pays back the borrowed Ebola money that we need to ensure that countries stay prepared to prevent another Ebola crisis.

There are a few proposals to pay for this, but I want to make the following point: This is an emergency. It fits the definition precisely, and so it shouldn't require a so-called pay-for.

I would like to say something to the Members who have rediscovered their fiscal conservatism. Remember that we just passed a $622 billion tax subsidy package last December, and none of it was paid for--more than half a trillion dollars not paid for--and 5 months later we are nickeling-and-diming the Centers for Disease Control.

I recently visited CDC headquarters in Atlanta to learn more about their efforts to combat Zika, dengue, and other vector-borne diseases. I have total confidence in the CDC's ability to respond to challenges like Zika, but we have to give them the strongest funding possible to make sure they can do their good work. And taking money away from the Prevention and Public Health Fund will strip CDC and other important agencies of the funds they need to protect our country from within and from without.

It is fair to say that this is a Congress that has struggled to do its job. And even when it stumbles through a solution such as this, it sometimes creates a new set of problems. So far in addressing Zika, we have forced the administration to pull money from the CDC for Ebola or from States to address public health risks. If you want to find savings, there are plenty to be had in the Tax Code, including the more than half a trillion dollar package that was passed in December, and not a penny was paid for. There was $622 billion in tax subsidies--some great things in there, some questionable things in there--and not a penny of it was accounted for and paid for properly.

Regardless of your side of the aisle, we can all agree that this is the one thing the government ought to do: keep us safe.

Thank you to Senator Rubio and others for their calls to make Zika funding nonpartisan. Investing in the CDC and other agencies will protect our citizens from horrific diseases and shouldn't depend on your philosophy regarding the size and scope of the Federal Government.

Let's do our job. Let's keep the people of the United States safe. Let's fund this emergency for Zika and keep us safe from Ebola and other dangerous diseases.

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