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

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as a mother and a grandmother, I know that one of the most frightening questions an expecting parent has to ask their doctor is, ``Is my baby safe?''

Too many parents are asking that question right now because of the Zika virus. There are now more than 1,200 reported cases of Zika in the United States and the three territories--more than 100 of these are pregnant women--and on Friday, Puerto Rico announced its first case of Zika-related microcephaly.

Unfortunately, those numbers are only expected to grow in the coming months. So this is an emergency, and public health experts have repeatedly made it clear that as we get closer to the summer and to mosquito season, we cannot afford to delay. We need to better control mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus. We need to raise awareness to make sure families are informed about this disease, and we need to expand access to family planning services and accelerate the development of a vaccine. The President laid out a strong emergency funding proposal to accomplish each of those goals in February.

I support that plan. I was very disappointed that instead of acting on it as quickly as possible, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle simply refused to even consider it. Instead, they found reason after reason to delay. First, they said the administration should take funds from the ongoing Ebola response to combat Zika. Then, they said they needed more information about the President's proposal, even though Zika has been discussed in 55 congressional hearings, even after briefings by senior administration officials, and even though the administration's 25-page proposal had been available for months for anyone to see.

House Republicans have released a proposal that would provide a very meager $622 million, less than one-third of what is needed for this emergency, without any funding for preventive health care or outreach to those who are at risk of Zika, and they are still insisting in the House for the funding for the offset.

In the face of all of that partisanship and inaction and with public experts making it clearer every day how much we need to act before mosquito season is in full effect, I was encouraged that Chairman Blunt and others on the Appropriations Committee were willing to work with Democrats on a first step to respond to this emergency. The agreement we have reached would put a down payment on the President's proposal into the hands of our first responders and researchers right away. It would provide much needed relief for Puerto Rico, backfill nearly $100 million in essential public health funding that the administration had been forced to reprogram, invest in prevention and support services for pregnant women and families at home and abroad, and put research dollars into developing a vaccine.

I believe the Republicans should do what we have urged them to do for months and join Democrats in supporting the President's full emergency funding request. But if they continue to refuse, then at the very least, they should be willing to support a bipartisan first step toward protecting families from this virus, and Democrats will continue pushing for every necessary resource going forward.

Families across the country are looking to Congress for action on Zika. They do not have time for lengthy debates about offsets, and they don't have more time to wait. So I hope we can move very quickly to get this emergency funding package through the Senate and the House and onto the President's desk. If we act now, we can help protect our families across the country from the truly tragic consequences of this disease, and there is no reason to delay.

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