Political Quotes

“I want to come to the floor to say that after a lot of work, the Senate has finally passed funding to take on Zika--a cause I have been talking about since April of this year. I want to say, in full credit to the Senate, that this is actually a very similar proposal that the Senate proposed in May, and it is now the one before us. I am sad that it took so long to get to this point, but at least we are here now. As I said before, it is better late than never. To the people of my home State of Florida, to the people of the island of Puerto Rico, who have been disproportionately impacted by the outbreak of Zika in the United States, I want to say that despite a long wait, help is finally on the way. Help is finally on the way in the form of a $1.1 billion anti-Zika package which is part of this larger law--this larger bill that passed today to keep the government open beyond September 30. Included in the law that passed today is $15 million that is specifically targeted for States with local transmissions. The only State so far that has had local transmissions is my home State of Florida. Today, $15 million is, hopefully, on its way to Florida if we can get this done in the House to help with the fight against Zika. It also includes $60 million, specifically for territories like Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has the highest number of infected American citizens with Zika. Today is good news for Puerto Rico. This took far too long, but I am glad we are finally here.…”