WASHINGTON, D.C., June 28, 2016 – U.S. Rep. Dennis A. Ross (R-FL-15), Senior Deputy Majority Whip, released the following statement in response to Senate Democrats blocking the House-Senate funding bill to combat the Zika virus:
“I am extremely disappointed and upset Senate Democrats blocked $1.1 billion in desperately-needed funding to combat the dangerous Zika virus. Just this morning, the Florida Department of Health delivered heartbreaking news of the first confirmed case of Zika-related microcephaly in an infant born in Florida. Senate Democrats are playing political games with American and Floridian lives, and it must stop immediately.
“As the Olympics start in August, millions of Americans will be traveling through Florida to and from Brazil, where the Zika virus is quickly spreading. How are we supposed to prepare for and prevent this type of medical threat and epidemic when those who were elected to protect our people from harm refuse to do so? I call on all of my colleagues to put politics aside and put this legislation on the president’s desk, so we may all band together to protect those who put us in office—The American People.”
Florida currently has 223 Zika cases, including 40 pregnant women, the most of any state in the U.S. The Zika-related microcephaly reported in a Florida infant this morning is a condition in which a baby is born with an unusually small head, often due to abnormal brain development. The mother of the infant contracted Zika while in Haiti.
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