Zika Response Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this bill is woefully inadequate. The Zika virus is a public health emergency. It is a crisis.

Last week, 1,204 confirmed cases in the United States and its territories, over 100 of them pregnant women. One person has died.

Temperatures are rising already and reaching high levels in the United States in the areas where these mosquitoes thrive, and we are told that this could spread to 30 States.

The Olympics are less than 80 days away in Brazil. We are going to send our young men and women into harm's way.

The window for us to act on this effort is closing, and the majority's Zika Response Appropriations Act is too little. It is too late. It only provides a third of the President's request.

Without additional funding, the CDC will not be able to protect pregnant women by better understanding the link between Zika and adverse health effects. They will not be able to control and mitigate mosquito populations before the epidemic spreads further.

They lose laboratory capacity, they lose the ability of surveillance as the outbreak is moving on.

The most immediate needs of State and local public health departments are woefully underfunded by the House Republican bill. Our States' and our municipalities' emergency funds have been slashed.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the list of all of the States in this country and the loss of preparedness funds in order to be able to deal with the crisis. PHEP CUTS FROM ZIKA TRANSFER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grantee Cuts (dollars) Cuts (%) Grantee Cuts (dollars) Cuts (%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alabama..................................... -613,733 -6.90 Montana....................... -139,375 -3.21 Alaska...................................... -194,836 -4.63 N. Mariana Islands............ -6,172 -1.72 American Samoa.............................. -6,600 -1,82 Nebraska...................... -245,839 -4.58 Arizona..................................... -915,853 -7.74 Nevada........................ -390,223 -5.77 Arkansas.................................... -377,461 -5.70 New Hampshire................. -187,880 -3.90 California.................................. -3,979,850 -9.35 New Jersey.................... -1,303,734 -8.36 Chicago..................................... -530,926 -5.42 New Mexico.................... -275,903 -4.09 Colorado.................................... -706,343 -7.21 New York...................... -1,564,792 -7.90 Connecticut................................. -490,363 -6.35 New York City................. -1,158,820 -6.27 Delaware.................................... -143,256 -3.27 North Carolina................ -1,240,926 -8.32 District of Columbia........................ -142,165 -2.23 North Dakota.................. -194,836 -4.63 Florida..................................... -2,653,185 -9.00 Ohio.......................... -1,548,159 -8.65 Georgia..................................... -1,351,184 -8.44 Oklahoma...................... -499,358 -6.40 Guam........................................ -19,345 -3,98 Oregon........................ -522,990 -6.51 Hawaii...................................... -196,065 -4.01 Palau......................... -2,546 -0.78 Idaho....................................... -211,568 -4.20 Pennsylvania.................. -1,716,179 -8.79 Illinois.................................... -1,422,463 -8.51 Puerto Rico................... -433,740 -6.06 Indiana..................................... -872,687 -7.66 Rhode Island.................. -155,523 -3.45 Iowa........................................ -393,286 -5.80 South Carolina................ -605,876 -6.16 Kansas...................................... -388,911 -5.77 South Dakota.................. -118,947 -2.87 Kentucky.................................... -568,480 -6.72 Tennessee..................... -857,750 -7.62 Los Angeles................................. -1,575,170 -7.98 Texas......................... -3,598,615 -9.55 Louisiana................................... -613,015 -6.89 Utah.......................... -380,115 -5.71 Maine....................................... -177,231 -3.77 Vermont....................... -194,836 -4.63 Marshall Islands............................ -8,413 -2.21 Virgin Islands (US)........... -12,633 -3.00 Maryland.................................... -856,366 -7.60 Virginia...................... -1,149,940 -7.64 Massachusetts............................... -937,359 -7.14 Washington.................... -948,052 -7.81 Michigan.................................... -1,310,210 -7.86 West Virginia................. -242,010 -4.54 Micronesia.................................. -12,798 -3.03 Wisconsin..................... -742,890 -6.41 Minnesota................................... -744,017 -6.61 Wyoming....................... -194,836 -4.63 Mississippi................................. -384,621 -5.74 .............................. ................. ................. ------------------------------------- Missouri.................................... -818,745 -7.52 TOTAL......................... 44,250,00 7.23 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DeLAURO. While the administration requested $743 million for CDC's public health activities, the House bill provides only $120 million, 84 percent below the request.

Who are we kidding?

This is going to put millions of pregnant women in danger. According to the CDC, pregnant women are already facing unacceptably long delays in learning Zika test results.

Physicians are advising women not to get pregnant. Pregnant women are scared to death about what is going to happen to the child that they are carrying. Director Tom Frieden has said that experts estimate a single child with birth defects can cost $10 million to care for.

We need to prevent this. And the amount of money that the majority has talked about is inadequate to prevent it. If each child takes $10 million to care for, and we take a look at $622 million, we are going to look at our ability to take care of 62 children who might be affected with microcephaly. This says nothing about what the child's quality of life is, the delays in learning to speak, to walk.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DeLAURO. It is a delay in learning to speak, walk, hear and eat. Imagine.

But we can stop this crisis before it gets worse. We have to act now, and we have to fully fund the President's request. It is the responsible thing to do. More importantly, it is the moral thing to do.

Months from now, when the results of our inaction become apparent, we will ask ourselves, why did we delay? Why did we wait?

You know, I do not often quote Senator Marco Rubio, but yesterday he said this about the House bill, and I quote: ``Frankly, that's just not going to cut it. If we don't spend more than that on the front end, I think we are going to spend a lot more later because the problem is not going to go away.''

I could not agree more. We need to act now. That is our responsibility.

The President's request was in February. It is now almost the end of May. People are suffering, and we have the power in this body to stop that.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source