Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I first want to talk about the Zika public health emergency that is coming to the United States of America. We have to act now to fund the administration's request of $1.9 billion in supplemental funding. Zika is a disease carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a vector that has already caused a dengue epidemic in my State of Hawaii. The Aedes mosquitoes are in more places than we previously thought throughout the United States. Zika is the first mosquito-borne illness to be associated with a congenital birth defect. We are continuing to learn more about this devastating disease every day, including its association with Guillain- Barre syndrome--a type of paralysis--eye abnormalities, and more. While there have not yet been any locally transmitted diseases of Zika in the continental United States, we do have hundreds of travel- related cases and up to 500 cases of active transmission in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As I mentioned, Hawaii is recovering from a dengue epidemic. So we must provide emergency funding for mosquito-borne illnesses, and we must do it now. This is an emergency. The administration has clearly laid out its request to combat Zika, which includes the following: $830 million for the CDC. This money would include grants and technical assistance to Puerto Rico and the U.S.…”