Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for his comments and for his concern, which I think is sincere, about California. Let me say to him that I would certainly be open on this side of the aisle, as, I am sure, my Members would be, to working with him to address those issues. It is not a question of Flint, per se, but it is a question of some 6,000 to 9,000 children who have been exposed immediately, and it is an emergency now as they are not able to drink the water; they are drinking bottled water. My point is not that we ought not to address problems in California or, very frankly, in Maryland or in Ohio or in Florida or wherever else they may occur in league with the States and municipalities. Obviously, this is a partnership, not just our responsibility. {time} 1145 I would again reiterate, Zika and Ebola are both emergencies that need to be dealt with now. I think the gentleman is absolutely correct that we ought to know how much is needed, how it is going to be spent, and what effect it will have. I will tell you that one of my members in the whip meeting this morning, Mr. Leader, said that her understanding from her local health department was that their efforts with respect to Ebola and other infectious diseases are being adversely affected by the fact that that $589 million, which didn't just come out of the air, was transferred, as you pointed out and as I pointed out, to the Zika response.…”