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| U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) |
On
September 12, 2016, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson spoke on the Senate floor in
support of a bipartisan effort to provide emergency funding to fight the Zika
virus. He also spoke about a September 10 Miami Herald article highlighting the
dangers of undercounting the extent of virus’ spread. According to the article,
“the information issued by the governor and state agencies has not been timely
or accurate - cases announced as ‘new’ are often several weeks old, due to a
time lag in diagnosis - and excludes details that public health experts say
would allow people to make informed decisions and provide a complete picture of
Zika’s foothold in Florida.” As of September 14, 2016, there were more than 800
cases of Zika in Florida, including 71 cases of local transmission and 86 cases
involving pregnant women. CLICK TO VIEW SPEECH
On
September 7, Senator Nelson spoke on the Senate floor, urging his colleagues to
“stop playing games” with funding to fight Zika, and urged Senate Majority
Leader McConnell to take up and pass the same $1.1 billion Zika-funding bill
that the Senate overwhelmingly passed in May. Since then, Leader McConnell has
only allowed votes on Zika-funding bills that contain additional controversial
issues such as a proposal to cut family planning services for low-income
families in Puerto Rico, where over 15,000 Zika cases have been identified, and
also proposals that take funding from efforts to control the Ebola virus, as
well as other healthcare funding under the Affordable Care Act. CLICK TO VIEW SPEECH
On
August 10, Senator Nelson joined seven Florida Democratic House Members in
sending a letter urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Secretary to ensure a sustainable funding stream for the development of a Zika
vaccine. The letter states, “We recognize that any option that involve moving
resources from other parts of your budget require raiding other vital work that
is being done at your Department. And, for this reason, we would only recommend
this type of extraordinary step if there were no other choice. Unfortunately,
the Republican Congress has left you no other options.”
On
August 4, Senator Nelson joined 40 Democratic Senators in writing to the
Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader urging them to immediately
cancel the remainder of the congressional recess and get back to work to
protect the American public from the Zika virus. The letter states, “Congress
left for the August recess after House Republicans killed a bipartisan
compromise bill that received 89 votes in the Senate. Republican leadership
acquiesced to their extreme right-wing Members, who demanded poison pill
special-interest priorities…”
On
August 2, Senator Nelson wrote to Senate Majority Leader McConnell to use a pro
forma session during recess to pass Zika funding without having to reconvene
the Senate body. The letter reads, “If you feel it would be too difficult to
immediately reconvene the entire Senate, you and Sen. Reid could, under Senate
rules, simply agree during one of the remaining nine pro forma sessions to
allow a senator by unanimous consent to take up and pass the same $1.1 billion
Zika-funding bill that the Senate overwhelmingly passed back in May….”
On
July 29, Senator Nelson wrote to Senator McConnell urging him to exercise his
power as Senate Majority Leader to immediately reconvene the Senate so the
Senate could pass an emergency spending bill that would have provided our
health officials with the resources they need to contain the spread of the Zika
virus. Senator Nelson sent the letter following the Florida Department of
Health’s announcement that mosquitoes in South Florida infected at least four
people in the Wynwood neighborhood.
In
addition to Senator Nelson’s fight against the Zika virus you can learn more
about his most recent activities while in Congress by clicking the link below.
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