Sheila Jackson Lee: “You have heard the cries of our colleagues. You have heard the cries of the American people. Redundancy is not a…”

“You have heard the cries of our colleagues. You have heard the cries of the American people. Redundancy is not a question here. It is telling the truth. In fact, our health professionals have indicated that the Zika virus presents an unprecedented threat to the people of our Nation, especially to pregnant women. We cannot hear this often enough, and although busy with the beginning of the school year and with going back to work, it is important to warn the American people of this impending and ongoing threat. While we are fiddling and doing things that have no impact on providing a portion of the $1.9 billion that is needed by the American people, we have 1,600 cases of Zika virus in the United States--200 plus women who are pregnant and 35 known transmitted diseases here in the United States of the Zika virus. We also now know, through health professionals, that it is sexually transmitted. We know that the entire United States is vulnerable, but most of the vulnerable States are in the Gulf region. It is time now to address the question of funding without riders, like preventing Planned Parenthood from getting funding, and without riders for allowing the Confederate flag to be in a veterans' cemetery. Where is our concern about the American people--for the people in Louisiana with a lot of water? for the people in Texas with a lot of water? in Florida? in Puerto Rico?…”