[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11928]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FUND ZIKA RESEARCH NOW

  (Ms. CASTOR of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, 17 babies in the United States 
have been born with birth defects tied to the Zika virus. Currently, 
over 80 pregnant women in my home State of Florida and over 1,600 women 
in the United States have the Zika virus.
  I urge the Speaker and my GOP colleagues who control the agenda here 
in the House to act immediately and bring an emergency Zika package to 
the floor of this House. They can do it quickly. They can do it today. 
They can do it this week. But, unfortunately, there is no plan to do 
so. This is unconscionable.
  My neighbors back home and all across the country need the tools to 
prevent this public health crisis from growing. The Centers for Disease 
Control and the National Institutes of Health need the tools to prevent 
this public health crisis. To do otherwise would be unconscionable. We 
need action now.

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