WASHINGTON – Capitol Hill leaders responded cautiously to President Barack Obama’s announcement Monday that he would ask Congress to provide $1.8 million in emergency funding to bolster the response to the Zika virus.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell is set to brief Senate leaders and relevant committee leaders Tuesday on the virus, which is typically spread through mosquitoes and has been linked to a birth defect. The World Health Organization last week declared the virus a global health emergency.
Obama will send his budget for 2017 to Congress on Tuesday, and leaders have pledged to give it serious consideration.
“The two areas where we’ll want to get a better understanding at the briefing: Number one, what are the preparations being made to protect Americans? Number two, what are the administration’s funding priorities given limited federal resources?” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday.
McConnell, R-Ky., who requested the congressional briefing, discussed the outbreak at a meeting with Obama and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., last week. McConnell said after that meeting that some charged the government was slow to respond to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and he did not want that to happen again.
As part of its year-end spending package in December 2014, Congress provided $5.4 billion in emergency funding to combat Ebola, which claimed more than 11,000 lives, mainly in West Africa.
“The good news is, this is not like Ebola. People don’t die of Zika,” Obama said. “A lot of people who get it, don’t even know that they have it. What we now know though is there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women or women who are thinking about getting pregnant.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., noted that Senate Democrats wrote to Obama last week, urging him to take action, and on Monday Reid called on the Senate to approve the funds.
“We must not lower our guard. Instead we must take action,” Reid said. “It’s critical we approve the funds now.”
The top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee also said she would evaluate the president’s request.
“I am deeply concerned about the outbreak of the Zika virus – this is a serious situation that requires an all-hands-on-deck response from the federal government working in partnership with the World Health Organization and affected nations,” Senate Appropriations ranking member Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., said in a statement. She said the response must be “driven by science and not panic,” focus on the outbreak’s epicenter, and prioritize vaccine and treatment developments.
“I will be evaluating the president’s supplemental funding request to ensure that it both meets the criteria for emergency spending and provides the resources necessary to stop the spread of this virus,” Mikulski added.
On the other side of the Capitol, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was quick to endorse the president’s proposal.
“The spread of the Zika virus requires a robust, proactive U.S. response to protect American communities and combat this disease across our hemisphere,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. “Congress should swiftly approve the emergency resources to accelerate and strengthen our response to Zika’s distressing spread.”
House Appropriations spokeswoman Jennifer Hing said, “The committee will carefully review the request when it is received.”
Zika virus symptoms include a fever, rash and joint pain, but it can cause a condition known as microephaly that results in abnormally small heads for children when pregnant women are infected.
Obama’s funding request is centered on boosting response efforts, testing and a vaccine. The request includes nearly $830 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support response in states; enhance mosquito control programs; establish rapid response teams; enhance laboratory testing; boost education efforts; increase research on the connection between Zika infections and birth defects; and expand ability to monitor and provide training internationally.
The request also includes $250 million for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide aid to Puerto Rico for pregnant women who are at risk or have been diagnosed with Zika virus, and for children with microephaly. It also includes $200 million for research and developments of Zika tests; $210 million to establish a new Urgent and Emerging Threat Fund to address Zika and other outbreaks; and nearly $380 million to assist USAID and the State Department with international efforts to contain the outbreak.
On Wednesday, two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees will have a joint hearing on the outbreak. The Senate Help, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 24 to learn more about the virus and what can be done to prevent its spread. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have also requested briefings said they also intend to hold a hearing on the virus as well.
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