Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016--Conference Report

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I will tell you what shameful is. It is allowing more women of childbearing age to contract the Zika virus so their babies can end up looking like this. That is shameful.

Make no mistake about it--our colleagues across the aisle have filibustered on a partisan basis a bipartisan bill that funded our anti-Zika efforts. It also included measures to support our veterans.

So we need to be absolutely clear. I heard the Democratic leader basically saying that, because his party is a sore loser in a conference report they don't love, they are going to block funding to prevent more babies from contracting the birth defect that is suffered by this baby shown in this picture.

Microcephaly, basically, is a shrunken skull. This baby's prognosis is not good. Women of child-bearing age are scared to death that their baby will end up like this baby. Yet their concerns have fallen on deaf ears among those in this Chamber--largely Democrats--who voted against advancing this legislation.

We are getting closer to mosquito season. The warmer weather means we are going to see more mosquitoes, and we need to get this on the President's desk as soon as possible. The President himself asked for $1.9 billion in funding and is calling this a public health emergency, but our Democratic friends blocked it because they are sore losers in a conference negotiation report that they don't like.

We know that this virus can affect an entire generation. This birth defect is heartbreaking and life-altering, and we know it has taken a tremendous toll in much of Latin America. Fortunately, so far the only cases of Zika virus in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, are from people who have traveled to South America and Central America and contracted the virus there and came home. So at least so far, the mosquitoes that carry this disease are not spreading it in the United States, but we know that will change soon. That is why we heard from the Senators from Florida, Texas, and others. They talked about its potential impact in the United States and particularly in our warmer States.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, severe microcephaly like this is associated with seizures, intellectual disability, hearing and vision problems, and developmental delays, and that is assuming this child survives into adulthood, which most, unfortunately, do not. So how can our friends across the aisle who voted against this conference report, which provides Zika funding, look the mother of this baby in the eye and say: We have plenty of good reasons to deny help for more children like yours.

We know this impacts not only children and these babies, but it also impacts whole families. It means mothers and fathers anxious about the welfare of their baby are regularly going to the doctor to gauge progress and check development. It means finding speech, occupational, and physical therapies to help the child live as long of a normal life as they can. One neurologist quoted in the New York Times said: ``There is no way to fix the problem, just therapies to deal with the downstream consequences.''

So once a baby like this contracts the Zika virus, there is no way to fix the problem. The only defense is to prevent children like this from getting the Zika virus by getting the funding that Democrats just voted down to the medical authorities so they can look for a vaccine and so we can do mosquito eradication and the other things we know we need to do from a public health perspective to prevent more babies like this one from developing these devastating birth defects.

As I said, there is no cure. Once a baby has it, he or she has it for life. That means that the family will have to live with the great uncertainty about the health and well-being of their child as they consider the lifelong implications of caring for a child with this kind of disability.

We know we don't have to accept this as the outcome. We know there is a way to fight it, and that is by preventing the Zika virus from spreading to the United States, but unfortunately Senate Democrats just voted against that.

As I said, there are already hundreds of travel-related cases of the virus scattered throughout the country, and I hope the administration does more to underscore the real health threats that exist when people travel to areas where Zika is at its worst. That is why I joined with one of our House colleagues who is a medical doctor, Congressman Michael Burgess, in asking Secretary of State Kerry and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Frieden, how they are coordinating travel warnings to regions where Zika has run rampant. Texans and all Americans need to understand the risks associated with travel to those areas, and they need real-time, accurate information so they can determine whether they should alter their travel plans.

Over the past few months, the mosquitoes who carry this virus have been inching their way north, and today locally transmitted cases have been reported in Puerto Rico and throughout the Caribbean. In other words, this virus, along with its devastating effects, is at our doorstep.

I had a chance to visit with experts in my State at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Texas Medical Center, and they agree this is a major public health concern and we need to act and act soon. That is why we have to prepare for the arrival of the mosquitoes that carry this virus in the United States, something that our Democratic colleagues have just prevented. Fortunately, counties and cities throughout Texas have already been working hard to counter the spread of the virus.

When I was in Houston recently, public health officials back in April told me about measures they were implementing to track and manage the spread of Zika throughout the Houston area, one of the most populous urban areas in the country, and the efforts to eradicate the breeding grounds of the mosquitoes that transmit the virus. Governor Abbott of Texas is also taking steps to make sure that we are as prepared as possible. But we can't do it alone. Unfortunately, the sort of help that is needed by States like mine for mothers and fathers who could have children like this has just been blocked.

Governor Abbott invited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the State's plan to combat the virus and he appointed an infectious disease task force to make policy recommendations on how to prevent and respond to infectious diseases including Zika. States like mine and communities like Houston are doing their part, but Senate Democrats refuse to do their part. So it should go without saying that now on the frontlines of this major public health concern we need to respond at the Federal level. That is why it is shocking and shameful to see so many Senate Democrats oppose this bipartisan effort to guard against the virus, particularly because they have repeatedly called for an expedited resolution of this appropriations request.

Over a month ago, the minority leader made clear that he viewed Zika funding a major priority and one that demanded action.

Senator Reid, the Democratic leader, on May 23, 2016, said: ``Instead of gambling with the health and safety of millions of Americans, Republicans should give our Nation the money it needs to fight Zika, and they should do it now. Not next month, not in the fall--now.''

Well, of course, Senator Reid was advocating bypassing the Senate legislative process, and it was really inappropriate for him to demand a $1.9 billion spending appropriation that adds to the deficit and debt without letting Congress do its job, but now the House and Senate have both passed legislation and agreed to a conference report that Senate Democrats have just voted down.

Senator Reid said for us to fail to meet this crisis would be irresponsible, and yet he just advocated failing to meet that responsibility and address the crisis. We can't gamble with the health and well-being of women and children in this country just to serve partisan political needs, and most of the things that the Democratic leader raised in terms of objections to this conference report are just figments of his imagination.

There is no mention of Planned Parenthood in this conference report. I would challenge anybody to find Planned Parenthood mentioned once. As the Democratic leader knows, Planned Parenthood is a Medicaid provider, and so Medicaid eligible individuals can still seek whatever services they want through Medicaid at Planned Parenthood.

Then there is the Senator from Washington, the top-ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee, who actually crafted the bipartisan Zika response and then walked away from it and voted against it. She said on May 26, 2016:

Families and communities are expecting us to act. Parents are wondering if their babies will be born safe and healthy. In Congress, we should do everything we can to tackle the virus without any further delay.

Well, I agree, and I frankly do not understand how Senate Democrats, having taken this position previously, can come in here and engage in a partisan filibuster to stop funding for this impending public health crisis.

Just last week, the senior Senator from New York said: ``Every day we wait, every day is increasing the risk that we will have problems with Zika.''

Well, today we had the chance to send a bill to the President's desk that would meet the demands of Senator Reid, Senator Murray, and Senator Schumer, but they blocked it for fanciful and imagined reasons.

One of the arguments that Senate Democrats make against the bill is that more money is needed, yet this is funded at the very level that the Senate agreed to--$1.1 billion. President Obama and our Democratic colleagues repeatedly make the argument that throwing money at the problem will fix everything. Well, throwing no money at the problem will fix nothing, which is what they voted for today.

Less than 7 percent--just $40 million of the $589 million transferred from the Ebola fund to fight Zika has been obligated as of early June. That translates to easily more than $500 million the President can still use to fight this cause in addition to the $1.1 billion included in this bill.

We have heard from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle about this great need to prepare the country for this upcoming health crisis and how essential it is to quickly get resources to those studying the virus and working on prevention efforts and perhaps discovering a vaccine. But when given the chance to do that, Democrats shut it down. They filibustered the bipartisan bill that they themselves have been asking the Senate to pass, which is absolutely disgraceful.

So I hope our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will reconsider their misguided efforts and follow through with what they have been saying we need all along--the funding to fight a real public health threat. It is a public health priority that demands our attention and must be addressed now and not later.

Mr. President, I wonder what the Senators who voted against this bipartisan Zika funding bill would tell the mother of this child or perhaps another woman who is pregnant and wondering whether her child will end up with this virus and this terrible birth defect. Could they possibly look that woman in the eye and justify the reasons they have voted against funding so that other children and families can avoid this terrible devastating birth defect? I bet none of them could look that prospective mother in the eye and say: Well, we voted against protecting your baby and your family for good and sufficient reasons. As I said earlier, many of the reasons stated by the Democratic leader are imagined and not real--like this idea that somehow Planned Parenthood has been targeted, which is not even mentioned in the legislation.

I can't imagine a more disgraceful vote than what some of our colleagues have cast to deny funding for this impending public health crisis. I hope they will reconsider. I hope the families who worry about the health of their children will call their offices and say: Why did you vote against funding the money necessary to eradicate the mosquitoes that carry this disease? Why did you vote against further scientific research to learn how to combat it? Why did you vote against our developing a vaccine that can prevent the spread of this disease not only here in the United States but around the world?

I will bet none of them could look that mother in the eye because what our Democratic colleagues did today by voting down this funding was absolutely hypocritical, it was cynical, and it was shameful.

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