On the recordMay 24, 2016
let me just say this. This Zika virus is an emergency now, and though my constituents don't live in Texas, we have people in Washington State who have traveled to infected countries, gotten Zika transmitted through mosquito, have come home, and now they need to have tests to determine whether they have been infected. Those tests will not be available until we provide this money. The Ebola response money that was just referred to needs to be there because Ebola is not eradicated and can come back at any minute, and we are doing everything we can as a nation to protect American citizens. What we are trying to do is move the bipartisan bill that has been approved in the Senate quickly to the House. Yes, it has been attached to an appropriations bill, but for us to sit back and wait until a conference committee is appointed on that and does the long negotiations over the summer into the fall is too late. We can deal with this now. That is what I ask to do today, and we will continue to push until we can assure people in our States across the country that we are doing everything we can as a nation to help protect our citizens from the Zika virus, particularly expectant mothers or possibly expectant mothers and families. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
