Political Quotes

“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.…”