Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to announce that Senator Reid of Nevada and I will be introducing legislation that is the President's emergency funding request to respond to the Zika virus. I have been on the floor many times talking about the ravages of the Zika virus. It is up to 91 cases in my State of Florida. Fortunately, none of them originated in the State. It is all because of a mosquito bite or some other means of transmission, such as sexual contact, that has been done outside of Florida. That is particularly true in the warmer climates of the Caribbean, Central America, and Latin America. We know the devastating consequences of someone getting this virus-- not as a virus, because it has the effects of a mild flu, but if a mosquito infects a pregnant woman, the researchers understand that if it is any time during the 9 months of the pregnancy, it has the disastrous consequences of severe deformities. What is the result of that? The result is not only trauma to the family involved, enormous tragedy, but look at what the social cost is going to be. The World Health Organization declares this a public health emergency of international concern. The last time the World Health Organization declared such an emergency was for Ebola. Last week our CDC announced that it is ``scarier than they had initially thought'' and that it could be linked to other birth defects, not just the shrunken head and brain that is so horrendous to see pictures of.…”