John Cornyn: “shortly the Senate will vote on three different versions of appropriations bills that will provide the needed money to…”

“shortly the Senate will vote on three different versions of appropriations bills that will provide the needed money to help combat the anticipated challenges we are going to have with the Zika virus, which we have talked a lot about. Obviously, Zika is a threat, particularly to women of childbearing age because of the horrific birth defects associated with it, most prominently microcephaly, or basically a skull that is smaller than normal, leading to premature death and, obviously, horrific injuries. There is bipartisan support for this legislation. First of all, we will have a chance to vote on the President's request of $1.9 billion. The biggest objection I have to that $1.9 billion is that it really doesn't come with a plan that says how the President will spend that money. It also is not paid for. As the Presiding Officer well knows, we have a huge national debt, and there is no reason to just gratuitously rack up more debt in order to deal with this public health concern. There is a second vote we will have on a $1.1 billion appropriations bill. This is the product of the good work done by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri and Senator Patty Murray of Washington. They have cut down the President's request from $1.9 billion to $1.1 billion, and they believe this will fund the needed work not only of this fiscal year but into the next fiscal year as well. That is also not offset or paid for, and I think that is a problem.…”