Water Resources Development Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I wish to cover something that happened today. A revelation was just made a few hours ago at a hearing in the House. I will give the history of this.

As we all know, after the President's opening toward Cuba, there was increased travel to Cuba, now including the opening of commercial travel to the island from the United States.

Back in May, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security told the House Homeland Security Committee that new scheduled air service from the United States to Cuba, and vice versa, was not going to start until air marshals were allowed to be onboard those flights.

In August, the TSA provided the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, as well as reporters, a statement . . . [and they said] that the United States and Cuba had ``entered into an aviation security agreement that sets forth the legal framework for the deployment'' of air marshals ``on board certain flights to and from Cuba.''

Today, at a hearing in the House, ``a top TSA official divulged [for the first time] . . . that Cuba has yet to agree to allow U.S. air marshals aboard scheduled airline flights between the two countries-- meaning there have been no air marshals on board thus far, despite'' the fact that the administration said there would be. So, basically, what we have here is an outright lie.

Last month, to great fanfare, the Obama Administration announced that an agreement had been reached that there was going to be air marshals on commercial flights to and from Cuba, and today they confirmed that they weren't telling the truth. There was no agreement finalized. On most, if not all, of these flights there are no air marshals. This is endangering U.S. passengers.

This is a startling admission from the administration, and it is a startling admission by the TSA to the American people that they lied. They told us these flights would not begin until they had reached an agreement with the Cuban Government to have air marshals and other security measures in place. Today, only because they were asked--only because they were asked--did they admit that this is not happening.

It was incumbent upon the TSA to lock down a Federal air marshal agreement before these flights started taking off to begin with. That is what they told us they were going to do. That is what they said or implied was happening. Unless that question had been specifically asked today at that hearing, we would not have known about this.

My friends, this is the latest example of an administration that is so intent on burnishing its legacy, on getting credit for this opening, that they are willing to throw everything else out the window. They already are ignoring the human rights violations.

We have one of the leading human rights dissidents in Cuba on the verge of death because of a hunger strike, and this administration hasn't said a word about it. They don't do anything about it. They don't highlight that case. Instead, they are all celebrating and popping corks of champagne on these new flights, which they told us were going to be safe because they were going to have air marshals. Today, because they were specifically asked, we find out that it is not true. This is outrageous. The TSA under the Obama administration has lied to us about the status of the security.

Last week, I filed a bill that would stop all commercial flights to Cuba until this agreement is in place, until adequate security is in place. Now we know for a fact that adequate security is not in place. These flights should be suspended until such time as this agreement is signed.

I want us to think about what this means if it doesn't happen--what it means is these are now flights that are vulnerable. There is a reason why we have air marshals on flights. It is because of the experience of 9/11, of which we just commemorated the anniversary on Sunday. We now have flights 90 miles from our shores that could theoretically be commandeered, and we could have a repeat of that, particularly in South Florida, which is just minutes away from the airport in Havana. This is just unacceptable.

Forget about how we feel about Cuba policy for a moment. They have lied to the American people. They have lied to this Congress, and they were only caught today because they were specifically asked about the status of this. This puts us in incredible danger.

By the way, it is important for everyone to remember that years ago there were no metal detectors even at airports. They started putting metal detectors at airports 30 years or 35 years ago because of hijackings to Cuba. There is a reason.

So now here we have this situation where theoretically some terrorist could travel from any country in the world into Cuba and then try to come into the United States, commandeer an aircraft, and I don't need to say what could happen next. I think this is an incredibly dangerous situation.

I think we need to unite across parties, across the aisle, and, basically, say: No matter how you feel about Cuba policy, we all agree that travel to Cuba should be safe--no less safe than travel to the Bahamas, no less safe than travel to the Dominican Republic, no less safe than travel to Mexico. Why are we allowing the Cuban Government to conduct flights without the same conditions we have on allies of the United States? Cuba is not an ally of the United States.

The Cuban Government hosts intelligence facilities for both the Chinese and the Russians. The Cuban Government harbors fugitives from American justice. The Cuban Government helped North Korea evade U.N. sanctions on missile technology and weapons. Yet we have allies in this hemisphere who have to comply with all of this, but not Cuba. This is absurd.

The TSA has lied. It leaves this Nation vulnerable. Those commercial flights need to be immediately suspended until such time as these security measures are put in place. This is something that just broke hours ago, and I hope we can come together here and actually deal with it, irrespective of how we may feel about the issue of Cuba. Zika Virus Funding

Mr. President, the Governor of Florida was here yesterday and again today to discuss Zika funding. I met with him personally yesterday, and we met with the majority leader earlier today to reiterate again its importance.

Let me reiterate again the statistics. There are now, on the mainland of the United States, almost 3,000 cases. In combination with U.S. territories--meaning, primarily, the island of Puerto Rico--there are now close to 16,000 cases. In my home State of Florida alone, we are up to 799 cases, and 70 of those cases are locally transmitted, meaning that they were not Zika infections acquired abroad. They were either sexually transmitted or transmitted by a mosquito in the State of Florida. As to infections involving pregnant women in Florida, there are 86. That is combined, both travel and local transmission. It has taken this Congress far too long to act.

Now, I believe the good news is that, given the conversations that are still ongoing, we are on the verge of getting something done on the fight against Zika. I remind everyone that the Senate did act on this issue back in May in a bipartisan way, and I would take this moment to point out that my colleague, Senator Nelson from Florida, has been great to work with on this and multiple issues--but on this in particular. I thank him for his partnership and hard work in this regard. I enjoy our partnership on many issues involving the State of Florida, including the water bill before the Senate, but on this issue of Zika in particular. But it is time for the rest of us to come together in the interest of our people.

I know that right now all the headlines are about the impact this is having on Florida. But make no mistake, Zika is a national problem, and it requires a Federal response including funding to develop a vaccine that will eradicate this virus. So I do appreciate Governor Scott's efforts at the State level to combat Zika. It is long past time that this Congress follows suit.

This is, by the way, Governor Scott's second visit to Washington to address Zika. I am not aware of any other Governor who has come up here for the same purpose. But I can assure you that if we fail to seize the chance to pass funding, we are going to see more Governors and more Americans from every State and territory beating down the doors here in Washington fairly soon. As I said earlier, there are almost 20,000 Americans that have now been infected, and I think it would be a tragic and terrible mistake to ignore their plight. We have a chance here to help to prevent even more people from getting infected, but to do so we have to act now.

I want to point to one of the aspects of this issue that isn't talked about enough. We already understand the risk of microcephaly and what it means for unborn children. We understand the risk it poses to people in general. But I want to talk a little bit today about the economic impact of it. We can imagine that, as Zika outbreaks are being reported around the world and for the first time ever the CDC is actually designating areas of the continental United States as travel advisory areas that perhaps people should avoid, it begins to have an economic impact. I also don't need to remind people--although, maybe I should-- how important tourism is to the State of Florida. The evidence that this is having an impact on our economy is now far more than just anecdotal. I will quote extensively from an article in the Miami Herald a few days ago.

In August, leisure airfare prices fell 17 percent year- over-year at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport, according to an analysis by Harrell Associates. Fares for top routes at the nation's other airports rose 4 percent over the same time period.

So other airports saw a 4-percent increase in fares, and leisure airfare fell by 17 percent. People may think that this is good news for the consumer. But this is reflective of something--that demand is down and that the number of people wanting to travel there is down. This is not travel in general, because across to other airports it was up 4 percent. But in two airports in South Florida, it was down by 17 percent. That is evidence that this is having an impact on travel, both business and leisure.

Here is more evidence: ``And hotel bookings in greater downtown Miami fell by nearly 3 percent in the first three weeks of August compared to last year. . . .''

As someone raised by parents who worked in the tourism sector-- primarily in hotels--if these numbers and trends continue, not only are these hotels going to get hurt, but the people working there are going to get hurt.

There is a reason why this is happening. I will go to a couple more business aspects that we would think would go beyond simple tourism, just so we know this is not just about hotels and airports.

There is a Bay Harbor Islands-based company that does wedding planning called Forever Events. The owners said that a couple from California spent several months planning a destination wedding in Miami and then cancelled it. Instead, they are getting married in California.

A nanny service that provides babysitting for families staying at hotels and resorts, often because they are in town to celebrate weddings, said the cancellations started coming as soon as the first travel-related cases were discovered in February. They said that families told them that because their wives were pregnant, they were too nervous to travel to Miami.

Business has plummeted by about 25 percent, she said, hurting her staff. Phones have gone quiet. . . . ``We used to get calls every couple of weeks for a mom coming in town having her baby and now we haven't gotten any in months. . . . No calls at all.''

The rationale behind all this, perhaps, is a Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted in August, which found that ``48 percent of Americans would be uncomfortable traveling to Zika infection areas within the U.S., including Miami.''

So, again, this is not just something that is having an impact on our health care system, which is dramatic in and of itself, but it is having an economic impact as well, which is why it is so inexcusable that we didn't address this in April. We couldn't get final passage on this in May. I know the Senate did its part. It has gotten tangled up in all this election-year politics.

All I would say to my colleagues is, we fight about so many things around here. We have so many issues we could have a debate over. There are some significant differences between our political parties. In election years, they become more pronounced. Let's have debates about those issues, but at least when it comes to public health and safety, can't we say that on this issue, we are not going to play politics. Let's put this issue aside and let's not entangle it in all the political stuff that is going on because in the end, this does not discriminate. This is an issue that affects anyone and everyone, potentially.

That is what I hope is going to happen. We have taken far too long. Can you imagine going back at the end of next week or at the end of this month and explaining to people, not just in Florida but in America, that Congress once again couldn't get anything done on this?

I would ask both sides to show a tremendous amount of flexibility. I know there are ongoing conversations now behind the scenes to get some resolution on this. There are so many other issues we could have an argument over. On this one, let's just come together; let's provide the funding.

It is already less than what the President asked for, and I believe we will need more in the future. Let us come together, once and for all, and let's get this done in the Senate, and then let's work on encouraging our colleagues in the House to do the same so we have at least some good news to tell the American people at the end of this month. No. 1, your government didn't shut down; and, No. 2, Congress has finally provided funds, not just to help States and localities deal with Zika, not just to help health care facilities treat people with Zika, and not just to help people prevent Zika but to continue the research to develop a vaccine because once we have a vaccine, then I think this issue becomes very different. Then we have an answer with permanency to it. That is where I hope we are headed. That is why I encourage my colleagues to continue to work on it. Let's get this done once and for all. It is the right thing to do for America. It is the right thing to do for our people.

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