David Jolly: “I appreciate the opportunity tonight to come to the floor of the House together with a bipartisan group of legislators…”

“I appreciate the opportunity tonight to come to the floor of the House together with a bipartisan group of legislators from the State of Florida to talk about the importance of urgent action on the Zika virus. Perhaps no story has captivated the anxiety of the American people more than Zika has recently. Neither has a topic more angered the American people, angered people throughout Florida, because of the inability of a Congress and a President and a divided government to put policy ahead of politics and actually address what is a growing public health crisis. Many issues that we face today--and the Founders intended this--are regional issues, from flooding, to health scares, to infrastructure issues. We have regional representation here in the House. Florida, in the continental United States, is ground zero for the impact of the Zika virus. What has emerged within the Florida delegation, I am proud to say, is consensus that continues to grow among Republicans and Democrats around urgency. Now, we all have different opinions about the packages that have been proposed. Over the past 6 months, we have seen three primary options: The President proposed a plan of $1.9 billion over 2 years. That was his initial proposal. The House proposal had money flowing at about that same rate by reallocating $600 million from unspent Ebola money that was to be delivered over about 6 months, so $100 million a month, depending on how you calculate the color of money.…”