DeLauro Remarks on Zika and the House Republicans’ Agenda of Inaction
WASHINGTON, DC (April 20, 2016) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today delivered the following remarks on the Zika virus at a press conference on the House Republicans’ agenda of inaction. DeLauro was joined by Leader Nancy Pelosi, Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Congressman Dan Kildee (D-MI), and Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
Click here to watch the full remarks.
Here are the remarks, as delivered:
Thank you, Congressman Becerra. Madam Leader, thank you. I am delighted to be here with Congressman Kildee and Congressman Swalwell. As it’s been said, and the Leader pointed this out, that we have three public health crises in this country: the opioid epidemic, the lead poisoning in Flint, and the Zika virus. Let me spend a moment talking to you about Zika. Congress has to take immediate action to stop the spread of Zika in the United States. We can invest in stopping it, or we can let people in this country get infected and suffer.
In the last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, “We have to act now. If the regular appropriations process takes too long, I don’t want to have to wait to develop a vaccine.”
According to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, “There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly. Never before in history has there been a situation where a mosquito bite can result in a devastating malformation.” There is no ambiguity. Zika causes debilitating brain damage. And while we dawdle, children may die.
Today, and just a few days ago, health officials were split over advice on pregnancy in Zika areas. What does this say? Physicians are determining what they are going to say to American women—particularly those who live in the Gulf States—where this mosquito is prevalent. They are thinking about talking to them about avoiding conception—that being the only sure way to avoid the birth of deformed babies. Is this the message that we want to send to American women? Don’t get pregnant?
Due to the majority’s refusal to consider the emergency request, the Administration has been forced to redirect $510 million from Ebola to deal with an immediate Zika response. Let me be clear: these funds are being directed away from other critical and threatening global health risks and are being repurposed—shifted—only as a last resort, not because it’s the right thing to do from a policy perspective. In fact, the White House has said that these funds will need to be restored because Ebola is not over. We cannot abandon our fight in West Africa where Ebola continues to flare-up.
That is unacceptable. It is unconscionable that in the midst of a global health crisis, we cannot and will not appropriate emergency funds to save lives. Congress needs to do its job—what we were sent here for, what our moral responsibility is—to do its job on Zika.
I urge my colleagues—we all urge our colleagues—both sides of the aisle, not to put American women and families in the predicament of choosing whether or not they should get pregnant; or if they are already pregnant, wondering whether or not their baby is okay. That’s where we are today. We need to move. We need to act immediately. Thank you. And it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you someone who has been a leader on the fight to do something about the poisoning of 9,000 children in Flint, Michigan, Mr. Kildee.
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(Reporter: Those of us who have tried to ask Ryan or Hal Rogers about their plans on Zika have basically gotten the message, ‘We need more information. We’re working on it. We’re going to act.’ But we haven’t gotten a sense of how, when, or on what vehicle. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve spoken to Hal Rogers or Paul Ryan about Zika and maybe you can help the public get a greater sense of what’s going forward in the future.)
(Leader: Well, I first want to yield to Congresswoman DeLauro, who’s been a cardinal in the appropriations process and has been working on this in her subcommittee’s jurisdiction.)
Thank you, Madam Leader. First of all, this notion that the Administration has not provided information really is a misrepresentation. I didn’t bring it with me, but I held it up both last week in the appropriations process and just yesterday afternoon—about this much paper, very detailed as to what the money will be used for; whether it is at NIH, whether it is at CDC, whether it is at the Department of State. And I have personally been in briefings with Secretary Burwell and Republican colleagues. And the Administration, quite frankly, has tried to provide as much information, with the briefings, with justifications, with the language, with charts—it is all laid out.
I’m going to make this aside which I made yesterday. We have more information about this, than we had about going to war in Iraq, where we couldn’t find a weapon of mass destruction. And we spent $8 billion, which is unaccounted for today—and that’s not my number, it’s the special inspector general who said that with regard to the reconstruction there.
But back to Zika—last week Ranking Member Lowey, myself, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, where Florida is a real problem with regards to the Zika virus, we said ok, if the Administration hasn’t provided you with this information, let’s do a hearing. Let’s bring the administration in. Let’s ask them point blank the issues that you need to address. They said no. Mr. Rogers yesterday said that we’ve had briefings and meetings, etc.
I want to impute good will. There is no plan. There is no action, except to say ‘we don’t want to do your supplemental, but we want you to take money from Ebola,’ which $510 million is already there, and which the World Health Organization and others have said that if we abandon what we said we were going to do in West Africa, that what will happen is that other countries back out as well. And that public health infrastructure that we are helping to create is not going to occur and we will see additional flare ups.
I would just like to say, this is Dr. Bruce Aylward, Special Representative for Ebola at the WHO, “We are not at a critical period in the Ebola epidemic as we move from managing cases and patients to managing the residual risk of new infections. We still anticipate more flare ups and must be prepared for them.”
There’s been a recent flare up in Liberia. The point is they have no plan. They don’t want to act. And while they are fiddling, American lives—people overseas, their lives—are at risk, and we are telling American women “don’t get pregnant”.
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(Reporter: On Zika, has the GOP side given you any indication that they have a certain number in mind on top of the Ebola funds—if not $1.9 then some other number?)
No, they have not. All they want to do is dismantle the global health security, and as the Leader pointed out, it is an excuse not to act on the supplemental and do what we need to do. They have no number. They are not holding any meetings. We have nothing that says that they are willing to address this.
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