[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5325-5326]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               ZIKA VIRUS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I wish to address two different issues 
this morning, but I think both are timely and important.
  The first issue I will address has to do with a telephone 
conversation I had a few minutes ago with Dr. Thomas Frieden. Dr. 
Frieden heads up the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 
Atlanta, GA. Most Americans don't know much about the agency, but the 
title speaks for itself. The CDC, as we call it, is America's first 
line of defense in a public health crisis. When we think that 
Americans--individuals and families--are in danger or vulnerable, we 
call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ask them to 
analyze the challenge and then give us the right public health response 
to that challenge.
  A few months ago, I went to their campus in Atlanta, GA. It is very 
impressive, not just for the buildings but also for the people who are 
there. We have some of the best health researchers in the world working 
for our Federal Government at CDC--most of them at financial sacrifice. 
They want to be part of solving problems and protecting America. Just 
as the folks in the Pentagon across the river believe in the protection 
of America, so do the people at the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. The CDC is our first line of defense against public health 
attacks.
  This morning I called Dr. Frieden to talk about the Zika virus. I 
have come to know him and have worked with him over the years. Most 
people have learned about it by now. We are learning more about it 
every single day. We have kind of traced its origin to South America, 
and now it is moving north. It is moving north into Puerto Rico in a 
big way, and Florida is likely to be the next State to witness the Zika 
virus being transmitted by mosquitoes. Then, frankly, the whole United 
States is vulnerable. Not only can this virus be transmitted to an 
individual if they are bit by a mosquito, but it can also be 
transmitted by the sexual contact of a person already infected by the 
virus. If you have the virus and a mosquito bites you and then bites 
your wife, you may have just transmitted the virus to her through that 
mosquito. We are learning.
  The reason why this is more than just a mosquito bite and an 
irritation is that this virus can cause serious public health problems. 
We know that pregnant women with this virus run the risk of giving 
birth to babies with difficulties and serious problems, and so we are 
monitoring it very closely.
  How many employees at CDC are working on the Zika virus threat to

[[Page 5326]]

America? There are 1,000. When you think of all of the things that we 
need to worry about, they believe--and, I think, rightly so--that this 
is the imminent public health threat to our country. There are a lot of 
unanswered questions about the Zika virus, such as these: How long does 
it stay in an individual? How long can an individual who is infected 
with the virus transmit it to another person? For those who are 
carrying the virus, what impact does it have on their health? What 
impact does it have on a pregnant woman carrying this virus?
  It turns out there are literally hundreds now in the United States 
who have been infected with the Zika virus. We expect some lull in the 
number of cases, and then they are going to pick up in intensity and 
number this summer. We also know--and the announcement will be made 
soon--that there are pregnant women in the United States who have been 
infected by the Zika virus.
  The obvious question is this: Are we doing everything we should be 
doing to protect America?
  Sadly, the answer is no, we are not.
  Two months ago, President Obama said to the Congress: I need a 
supplemental emergency appropriation to deal with this threat. He asked 
for $1.9 billion. They want to monitor the Zika virus and how it is 
traveling across the United States. They want to monitor those who have 
already been infected. They want to develop a vaccine that we can take 
that will protect us in the future.
  From where I am standing, I can't think of a single public health 
challenge in America as great as this Zika virus at this moment. One 
would think that the Congress, now that they know the facts, would have 
moved instantly to provide the money to the President--this emergency 
supplemental appropriation of $1.9 billion. But the answer is they have 
done nothing. The leaders in the House and in the Senate have done 
nothing to provide emergency funds to this administration to deal with 
this public health emergency.
  It is so bad that this week a Republican leader in the House 
announced publicly that he didn't see any emergency. He thinks we may 
get around to an appropriation for this in October. Well, I don't know 
what his lifestyle is like, but in the Midwest we have a tendency to 
get out on the patio and have barbecues and invite our friends and 
neighbors over. We worry about mosquitoes. It doesn't start in October. 
It starts now. I don't know if this Republican Congressman plans on 
sending a memo to the mosquitoes across America saying: no buzzing and 
biting until October when we get around to this. It won't work.
  This has been declared an emergency by not only the President but by 
the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  Why aren't we acting? Why aren't we doing something? We should be 
doing something.
  We are going to leave today. This afternoon we will vote and go home. 
We will be back in probably 10 or 11 days. Maybe then the Republican 
leadership in the House and Senate will decide this is an emergency 
that needs a response. The numbers will start coming in--the number of 
people across America who are facing this virus--and the concern among 
American families is going to grow. This is not just an irritation. 
This is a danger to many people and certainly to women who could be 
pregnant. This is something we ought to be taking extremely seriously. 
We have been waiting for 2 months for this Congress to respond with an 
emergency appropriation to do something.
  I have called on the leadership in the Senate this week, and I will 
continue to do so today and when we return. There is no excuse. God 
forbid this gets worse and we look back and say: We waited too long; we 
didn't respond.
  Let me add one other thing. The only suggestion we have heard from 
the Republican side is this: Let's take some of the money we set aside 
to fight Ebola in Africa and use it for this purpose.
  I talked to Dr. Friedman about that. He said: It is true; there has 
been a real drop in the number of Ebola cases.
  Ebola is a deadly disease in West Africa and other places, and we 
worried about it coming to the United States. He said that we are still 
learning about how this disease travels.
  There was a man who was cured after being diagnosed with Ebola in 
Africa, and they just learned that a year after he was cured, he 
transmitted the disease by sexual contact to another person. Even when 
we think we have cured and solved it, there is still a danger.
  Let's make sure that we treat all of these public health hazards for 
what they are--dangerous to the United States and dangerous to our 
families. God forbid that something terrible happen. I hope it doesn't. 
Let's do our job here on Capitol Hill. When the President says we need 
resources to fight this, we do. I hope we move on it very quickly when 
we return.

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