G. K. Butterfield: “I thank Congressman Green for yielding time, and thank him for his extraordinary leadership not only on this bill, but…”

“I thank Congressman Green for yielding time, and thank him for his extraordinary leadership not only on this bill, but on our committee as well. To my colleague Susan Brooks from Indiana, I thank the Congresswoman for all of her work. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of adding the Zika virus to the FDA Tropical Disease Product Priority Review Voucher program. The bill we are considering today is the Senate companion to my bill, H.R. 4400, which I introduced on February 1 of this year. Yesterday the White House and the CDC announced the dangers of the Zika virus are ``scarier than we initially thought.'' The CDC estimates that there are already hundreds of thousands of cases in the United States and that the number is expected to grow as the summer nears. The health consequences of the Zika virus infection are staggering. Zika infections in pregnant women can result in serious birth defects, including microcephaly and neurological disorders in newborns. The virus also has serious impacts on adults. This is a global public health emergency. We must act now to combat the spread of this deadly virus. My bipartisan legislation, cosponsored by 31 of our House colleagues, and the Senate companion cosponsored by 11 Senators, provides a pathway for expediting treatments for Zika. Supporting research and development in the U.S. to fight this will not only benefit us here at home, but will also help hundreds of millions of people around the world. Mr.…”