battles that we fought and won a long time ago but we didn't have strategy to ensure the peace. history has taught us over 200 years ago that war is an extension of politics. we have to have a political end game for our fight in iraq or we will find ourselves continually going back there again and again when iraqi politics fail, a new terrorist group sweeps in and american troops are left to pick up the mess. when you look at what happened when isis entered, the iraqi army wasn't just defeated by isis, the iraqi army put their weapons down and went home because they lost faith in the iraqi government. we must have a long-term, comprehensive, political and military strategy. we owe it to the troops to ensure their efforts will not be

in v are ain and i'm proud of the bipartisan support for this amendment and i'm proud that the chairman worked with me to get t adopted and i'm glad it is included in the bill. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i have no speakers. so i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. moulton: i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i urge support or the amendments en bloc. the chair: the enolympic amendments are adopted. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. thornberry: i offer en bloc package number 7. the clerk: en bloc number 7

consisting of amendments number 93, 1, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 94, 95, 96 and 97, printed in house report number 114-571, offered by mr. thornberry of texas. the chair: the gentleman from texas and the gentleman from massachusetts will each control 10 minutes. mr. thornberry: i urge adoption of this en bloc package. the chair: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. smith: i yield myself such time as i may consume. there was an amendment that was in there happening to do with a new rocket engine and launch vehicle and i thank mr. rogers, the subcommittee chairman who worked closely with developing this package. we have a lot of american companies that are working hard

to develop a new engine and not rely on the russian engine. the amendment allows those companies to use some of the money that the air force is developing to develop a launch vehicle to go along with that engine and i think pretty soon we have great companies in my district and other folks working on other vehicles and this amendment allows money that the air force is providing to go to the launch vehicle. and will reduce the cost of our launch costs for the air force, so i thank chairman rogers for allowing us to offer that amendment and for working with me on it, and with that -- i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. torn mr. thornberry: i yield back.

all time for the chair: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the en bloc amendments are agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. thornberry: i offer en bloc package number 8. the clerk: en bloc number 8 consisting of amendments number 103, 104,0, 101, 102, and 110. 107, 109, offered by mr. thornberry of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 735, the gentleman from texas and the gentleman from washington, mr. smith will each control 10 minutes. mr. thornberry: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from washington. mr. smith: we have no speakers and i yield back.

the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendments offered en bloc. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the en bloc amendments are agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. thornberry: pursuant to h.res. 735 i offer en bloc package number 9. the chair: the clerk will report. the clerk: amendments 111, 112, 17, 18 and , 116, 120. offered by mr. thornberry of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 735, the gentleman from texas, mr. thornberry and the gentleman from washington will each control 10 minutes. mr. thornberry: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman

reserves the balance of his time. mr. smith: i yield myself four minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: i want to thank the chairman and staff and members for putting together this piece of legislation, always a long process but i think a good process in which we pull together a variety of different amendments and as the chairman has said it is a bottom-up process and starts with the members offering their ideas and putting together the bill and once again we have done that process fairly well. the problem and challenge as i mentioned earlier comes from the budget number and the problems we face. i know the chairman said earlier, we can't solve all these problems so let's help the troops now. and the problem is, you have a credit card and say, off in the future there may be problems, but put it on the credit card now and will help everybody in the long run, but it doesn't. it's not helping the troops to pass a bill that has six months'

worth of funding for a year-long worth of contingency operations. the chairman mentioned that last year we had this same problem and we did wind up getting an agreement and that's true. we on this side insisted on that agreement and did not merely accept the defense bill that was accepted without resolving those issues and once again we have to insist upon that that it does not make sense to have the budget control act and spend more money on defense, what the majority party wants, they want a ferrari but only want the money to provide for a honda and hoping that that extra money is going to appear. that hurts our troops. we heard the stories about the terrible state of our readiness. the bill that has been passed in

the house and the senate has put less money into readiness than the president asked for. why? and i'm not saying that there is anything in this bill that you can't make an argument for as being important. the problem is, it doesn't add up and leaves us in a position where the military is continually having to stare at a cliff knowing that the money isn't going to be there. i want a more sensible process. we should fund the base budget at the level that it is funded at. and if we don't find that sufficient and i know that just every member on the republican side doesn't find that number sufficient, then provide the money. this isn't a matter of saying what's that got to do with this, if you aren't willing to provide the money, starting them or

telling the military that they have to have a fixed number of members of the army and the marine corps and then knowing that the money isn't going to be there a year from now is not helpful. we have to bring some san and we haveo the -- to bring a sanity to the budget process. that is a big problem that we need to confront. just like last year, we will come together in conference and talk about this and work it out and come up with a bill. but i hope we will start understanding the moneyal little bit better. so the bill we pass is helping the men and women of the armed services who serve us so well. not whether or not you support the troops but whether or not you think the bill is the best way to do it. and with that, i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his

time. mr. thornberry: i have no further speakers other than myself. so i reserve the balance. mr. smith: i yield one minute to the gentleman from illinois, mr. lipinski. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. lipinski: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i rise to thank ranking member smith and chairman thornberry for an amendment that was cluded in one of the amendments that i joined mr. pompeo requires the d.o.d. to report on the cooperation between iran and russian federation. even before the iran nuclear deal we watched them become loser partners and russia said and began military cooperation with iran and syria. this year, russia and iran worked together to undermine the

allistic missile resolution. we understand the impact of this alliance on our national security interests because both nations continue to be hostile to the u.s. this amendment will help do just that. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from washington. mr. smith: how much time is remaining? the chair: the gentleman from washington has five minutes. the gentleman from texas has 10. mr. smith: i was hoping for a little more back and forth. i yield myself the balance of the time. just to again emphasize that this is a very, very important piece of legislation and important that we get it right. this is one step in the process. at the committee level, we worked together, got the bill

out and at the time, i raised the concerns that i'm raising now, voted in favor of the bill, hoping that we would make improvements on the floor. instead, we went the other way. we had one amendment that was supported in the committee, that the rules committee stripped without allowing a vote, a rule that would have women sign up for the selective service, an amendment that was supported by my caucus and the rules committee didn't allow us to have a vote. other one, the amendment that we didn't like that went the other way and didn't allow a vote to keep it in place. that is not a fair process. there are proper objections to is bill and preff ace it one thing, the chairman has worked well with democrats and i do appreciate that. the rules committee on the other hand has been the exact opposite they have been completely partisan that is not in keeping with the tradition of the armed

services committee and the way we do business, allow votes. they didn't do that. and that made this bill even worse than it was when it came out of committee. i hope rules committee will do better, i don't think that is likely. and the second issue is the funding. if we are going to provide for the troops, we have to look at the next 10 years and begin building a national security strategy that can support them based on the budget we are prepared to provide. there is no new revenue coming. even if the budget caps go away, they are extended for another year and basically we use 10-year money to pay for one year for goods and services and lastly there are other portions of the budget. the defense budget has grown as a portion of the discretionary budget and it is now 55% of it. and what the republican party is

trying to do is spend money on defense and nothing left over for the other priorities. so there are other priorities do matter and wrong to say what does the defense bill have to do with our crumbling infrastructure or t.s.a. it has everything to do with it in a year when we don't have a budget resolution so we don't have sets amount of money for each bill. every dollar we put into this is taking from all of those other priorities. and yes, national security is incredibly important. but i think infrastructure is important as well. i think department of homeland security is important. the department of justice, the department of treasury which tries to stop terrorists from raising money. we are trying to put the numbers in place and then spending the oney on defense, but more of

the money and what's left over goes to everything else. that is not a responsible way to budget or provide for this country. so for those reasons, i'm going to oppose the bill. i hope we will work this out in conference and come up with a more sensible approach and have a bill we can all support and i yield back. . mr. thornberry: i yield myself the balance of the time. mr. chairman, i appreciate the gentleman's comments that he believes i have tried to be fair with members of the minority in constructing this bill. i have tried to be. although i have to say, mr. chairman, if one leans over backwards to make sure members of the minority contribute to the bill, even to the point of where some of the provisions members of the minority are

interested in are opposed by members of the majority, if you still try to do that and members of the minority vote against the bill, i have to ask myself, why, why do i do such things? just in the past hour and a half, maybe two hours, we have spent time with basically equal numbers of members on the republican and democratic side talking about their amendments, discussing very important issues, but none of those issues happen without the bill passing. and yet, mr. chairman, i get the feeling that at least for some members there may always be that next bridge that we've got to get to before they can support the bill. mr. chairman, the ranking member described my view really better than i did. he said that my opinion is we

have to help the troops now. and that is exactly my view. and just think about what the alternative is. no, we're not going to helicopter troops now, because we're not -- help the troops now, because we're not sure where the money's going to come from next year or five years from now or the next 10 years. but in the meantime, while we're not sure about all that, we're going to continue to let class a mishaps grow. now, what that means is, more people standing danger of lose -- stand in danger of losing their lives. but we're going to allow that to happen because we don't know where the money is going to come from or we object to this provision, etc. it is absolutely true. my view is, help the troops now. because now is the time that they are cannibalizing the aircraft, not getting the minimum number of training hours, seeing class a mishaps only have nine out of -- nine b-1's that are available to fly, the statistics go on

on. the other point i would make, mr. chairman, is readiness is not just a question of funding the operation and maintenance accounts. that's really what i thought most of the time i've been here. what i've come to understand, however, is that you can cut end strength, you can cut the number of people in the military down to the point that you can never get ready. and i think that's part of what the air force is facing now. they have cut the number of people, we are 700 pilots short, we are 4,000 maintainers short, and it doesn't matter how much money you put in, you only have so many mechanics. the average experience of an air force mechanic, of a mechanic in the military, has dropped significantly just in the last two years. so, people are part of fixing readiness and procurement is part of fixing readiness. how many times do i have to explain that you can't fix a 1979 blackhawk helicopter, you

have to get a new one. 80's n't replace a 19 model f-18 a model, there are no more parts for them. you have to replace it with an f-35. hat's what we do in this bill. i continue to be perplexed, mr. chairman, at how the funding approach that was good and passed by a democratic majority in 2008, between bush and obama, is not somehow -- unacceptable between obama and whoever is next. none of us know who is next. we don't know who is going to be the next president. but to fully fund the readiness requirements for the whole year, to deal with those problems of maintenance and training and people and procurement, to fully fund those, and then have the new president take a fresh look at the deployments seems to make sense. it sure made sense in 2008.

i think it makes sense in 2016 as well. mr. chairman, the rules committee made in order 180 amendments for consideration here on the floor. 180 amendments. i understand not everybody's amendment was made in order. but the a little hard for me to understand how people could complain about the process when 180 amendments were made in order, many democrats, many republicans. i realize not every amendment was made in order. but surely a lot of topics have been discussed. finally, mr. chairman, i just have to take a moment and read one of the amendments that some members have complained about, that was placed into the bill in committee by mr. russell of oklahoma. it says, any branch or agency of the federal government shall

provide protections and exemptions consistent with section 702-a and 703-e-2 of the civil rights act of 1964. and section 103-d of the americans with disabilities act. that's it. it's one paragraph. that's it. so that's -- i don't know who's opposed to -- today to the civil rights act of 1964 or the americans with disability act of 1990. so that's a reason i just get this feeling personally that there may be those who are just looking for some excuse to vote against the bill. that e price of that is readiness problems, class a mishaps continue on the trend they're on. absolutely. help the troops now. i can't predict the future, i don't know who's going to be elected president, i don't know who's going to be elected to

congress, i don't know what the budget will be in future times. but i know what i can do now. i know what i can do today. help the troops now. you bet. sign me up. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas yields back. all time for debate having expired, the question is on the amendment en bloc offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the en bloc amendments are agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 119 printed in house report 114-571. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from guam seek recognition? ms. bordallo: i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: amendment number 119 printed in house report 114-571 offered by ms. bordallo of guam. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from guam and a member opposed each will

control five minutes. the gentlewoman from guam is recognized. ms. bordallo: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i appreciate this amendment being made in order. it's time that we bring resolution to the people of guam, all u.s. citizens who suffered under enemy occupation during world war ii. we found an offset to address its cost, which was one of the problems, and i look forward to adopting this amendment and working with the senate during conference. again, i want to thank very much chairman thornberry, ranking member smith, and chairman bishop for their support of this amendment. and i yield back, mr. chairman. the chair: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition, even though i am not opposed. the chair: without objection. mr. thornberry: mr. chairman, i appreciate the many contributions the gentlelady from guam has made to our committee as the ranking member

on readiness among -- readiness, among other capacities. i think this is a good amendment aped certainly hope our members will -- and i certainly hope our members will support it and i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from guam. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. thornberry: i move that the committee do now rise. the chair: the question is on the motion that the committee rise. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union, having had under consideration h.r. 4909, directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 4909 and has come to no resolution thereon.

the chair lays before the house a message. the clerk: to the congress of the united states. section 202-d of the national emergencies act provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to the stabilization of iraq that was declared an executive -- in executive order of may 22, 2003, is to continue in effect beyond may 22, 2016. obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of iraq, the

restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development of political, administrative and economic institutions in iraq continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the united states. accordingly, i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to the stabilization of iraq. signed, barack obama, the white house, may 18, 2016. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers, seek recognition? mr. rogers: mr. speaker, pursuant to the rule passed earlier today, house resolution 736, i call up h.r. 5243, the zika response appropriations act, 2016, and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5243, a bill making appropriations for the fiscal year ending september

30, 2016, to strengthen public health activities in response to the zika virus, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read. the gentleman from kentucky and the gentlewoman from new york each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the consideration of h.r. 5243 and that i may include tabular material on the same. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i rise to present h.r. 5243, the zika response appropriations act. the zika virus clearly poses a great threat to public health, not only in the united states, but around the globe. it's become increasingly

important that we, the congress, act to protect our most vulnerable, particularly infants and pregnant women, from the risks of this disease. our response must be urgent, direct and strategic. targeted at preventing the further spread of this disease. the bill before you today provides $622.1 million to fight this dangerous virus. it prioritizes critical activities that must begin immediately, such as vaccine development and mosquito control. i was glad to see that the administration took our committee's advice and redirected $589 million from less urgent needs to fund immediate actions to respond to zika. this was and is the most immediate source of funding in the fight against zika.

but given the severity of the crisis, it's clear we must do more. the funds within this legislation will continue the department of health and human services' and the department of state's critical efforts to fight the spread of this harmful disease for the rest of the fiscal year of 2016 and beyond. means in total $2.1ess will have provided billion to respond to zika in fiscal year 2016. i'm proud we provided this funding in a responsible way. the funding in this bill is entirely offset through scissions of unobligated infectious disease fund or whatever leftover balances that exist within h.h.s.

importantly, mr. speaker, this bill takes a thoughtful approach to address the fight against zika. directing funds where they are needed most urgently and do the most good. this legislation provides $170 million for the centers for disease control and prevention international response and public education. these funds can also be used for emergency preparedness grants to state, local and territorial health departments that macon front reductions to their existing budgets. with this total, up to $50 million is available for health programs targeted at prenatal care, delivery and newborn health assessments and care for infants with special needs related to zika.

these funds are focused on states and territories currently experiencing zika outbreaks. the national institutes of health received $230 million to help expedite the research and development of zika vaccines, making sure these treatments can be made available to the public quickly and safely. for the biomedical research and development authority, $103 million will be directed to development and production activities for zika, including for new rapid rap i had diagnose gnostic tests and vaccines. our response to zika must also include cutting off the virus at its source since mosquitos know no boundries. for the state department and

u.s. agency for international development, the bill provides a . tal of $119.1 million, includes funding for public education efforts aimed at reducing mosquito exposure. the remaining 19.1 million is to manage and oversee these programs. as i noted earlier, we've taken the fiscally responsible step of offsetting every dollar spent in this bill. to go even further and to ensure accountability, transparency and effective use of tax dollars, we have included strong oversight requirements. for instance, the department of health and human services, the state department and usaid are required to submit spending

plans to congress and we have directed $2 million for g.a.o. and inspector general oversight. the bill reit rates current strong protections against the use of any funds for abortions. the white house request earlier on made none of these oversight efforts, allowing broad transfer authorities across the entire federal government and creating slush funds with virtually no limits. this bill guarantees that every cent goes to address the problem at hand fighting the zika virus. this funding is critical to stop the spread of zika and protect our people both at home and chi at a full and healthy life and every mother deserves to see her child survive. this measure will make this

happen in ar responsible way. mr. speaker, with this bill and its passage, the congress will have seen $1.2 billion over the next 4.5 months, the balance of this fiscal year. the administration request of $1.9 billion was for several years. we, in this bill and the earlier transfer of funds from the ebola nfectious disease fund, we put money on the problem now. and i urge my colleagues to i reserve.. 5243 and the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: i yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, in february, the world health organization declared zika a public health emergency of international concerns and the president called for $1.9 billion to respond to the impending crisis and prevent the spread in our very own communities. according to the national governors association, the nation is on the threshold of a public health emergency. in a separate letter the u.s. conference of mayors, national leagues of cities, national association of county officials wrote to congress to provide emergency supplemental money for zika rather than repurpose money from other high priority programs. i ask unanimous consent to submit letters to the record. as summer approaches, c.d.c.

confirmed 1,204 cases including more than 100 pregnant women in the continental united states, puerto rico and other u.s. territories as of may 11. so far all of the continental u.s. cases are associated with travel, but experts expect the first locally transmitted cases in a matter of weeks. the scientific community has concluded after careful review kl result in cause fetal brain defects and adult neurological disorders. when the house republican leadership failed to act, the administration was forced to redirect $589 million, mostly from emergency ebola balances to fund immediate efforts to

respond to zika. according to the national institutes of health, the redirected funds allowed the united states to start work, but we cannot finish what we need to do. the republican bill does not allow us to finish the job either. provides $622 million, less than a third of what is needed. the administration requested, $743 million for state and local efforts to reduce mosquito populations as well as conduct public health studies of the zika virus. the house bill provides $120 million plus an additional $50 million for block grants by providing such a small fraction of the requested amount, we would be drastically underfunding state and local

health departments hampering efforts to expand mosquito control and mitigation and placing millions of pregnant women at risk. in addition, the administration requested $246 million indirect assistance for puerto rico, an epicenter in the zika outbreak. the house republican bill does not provide this direct funding, again placing tens and thousands of pregnant women at risk. in the past, congress has come together in a bipartisan manner to address and respond to h 1-nncies from ebola and 1 viruses and natural disasters and agree these emergencies should not be offset. when a tornado strikes, we don't steal money from the unfinished

relief efforts from the last hurricane, yet house republicans would take more ebola funding risking that it could re-emerge and give less than is needed to stop the spread of zika throughout communities in the united states. without full funding to replenish accounts, we won't fortify public health systems or health contingency funds in place to respond to outbreaks of either disease or unanticipated public health crisis. that is why i introduced h.r. 5044 which would provide the full emergency supplemental to combat zika and combat the virus from spreading. mr. speaker, that's the bill we should be debating today, not

the house republican zika, which is a day late and a dollar short. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. mr. rogers: he yield to the chairman of the house appropriations committee -- subcommittee on health and human services and labor and a member of the rules committee of the house, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cole: thank you, mr. speaker for recognizing me and thank you for yielding me the time i need. i want to begin my remarks by complimenting our chairman. i don't know anybody who has spent more time on this issue and devoted more thought to it than the chairman. he took a codel down to the region and our first stop was in peru and stopped at a naval research station. their purpose normally is to

look at tropical diseases, which they are doing but switched their efforts to zika, just as they should. so we were on top of this early. then we went to brazil. and we had the opportunity to meet with the centers for disease control and talked to our colleagues in the brazilian government about the appropriate ways to move forward on this that were done thoughtfully and responsibly. what the chairman has laid before us is a three-part plan that funds all the administration wants to do. the first is the initial $600 million that would not be available had the chairman not directed the administration to immediately use available funds. now when we passed money for ebola and look at the legislation, it was not only for bola but for ebola and other

infectious diseases and the money may well be more. but it will be spread over several years. because the chairman pushed hard on this, we actually have $600 million available immediately. and the message to the administration was start spending what you need to do now. the second piece of this three part plan is the bill in front of us today. over $600 million. this is 2/3 of what the administration has requested and more than than they requested in this fiscal year. and this bill is only for this fiscal year. so the next third will come in the bills that are presented by my subcommittee, labor-h.h.s. and representative granger's subcommittee. so if you look at the total amount provided, it's about what the administration has requested and it arrives in a timely

manner to meet all their needs. the one critical difference is what the chairman has provided is fully offset. my very good friend from new york mentioned that in emergencies, we don't normally offset. we do offset when we can. mentioned tornadoes. of 013, my home community moore, oklahoma was hit by tornadoes. there was money available. that was in the fema disaster relief fund and more than enough money in there that was already appropriated. that's what is true here today. we have more than enough money in the owe bowla funds this to actually take care of this and any other problem that comes up. this is now additional money on top of that. so the wise thing it seems to me is to actually use the funds that you set aside for these

purposes. first $600 million from the ebola money and the next would be this, and the next amount of money would be in the labor and health and human services and education bill that i'm chairman will ms. granger who bring forward additional money in her bill to help with the efforts overseas. . this is an argument about whether you'll pay to take care of the needs that we have. what we'll vote for her and -- here and what we'll provide for next year to actually take care of the problem. and the chairman's made an additional commitment that if we need to back fill that money, if we're short, for some other disease that none of us can anticipate or for ebola, we will take care of that during the regular appropriations pro

sess -- process. so this is essentially, i think, a problem -- excuse me, a solution in search of a problem. the money is here. we have the money. we're appropriating the money. the administration has not failed to do one thing it wanted to do because of lack of money. the money is available. the real question here is, are you going to offset that money and make sure that we don't add another $1.9 billion to the national debt by using the money you've got available, or are you just going to simply charge it to the national credit card? and that's what my friends on the other side, with the best of intentions, i'm sure, are actually advocating. let's just put the country $1.9 billion deeper in debt, as opposed to using available resources, appropriating additional resources, and offsetting them, and then using the normal appropriations process to go forward. i want to commend the chairman

for being thoughtful, careful and prudent with the taxpayer dollars. that's what this is all about. if we work together, we can provide all the money that the administration needs without increasing the national debt. if we do what our friends on the other side suggest, we'll simply add $1.9 billion more. and at the end of the day, we won't be in any different place than we'll be under the chairman's plan. so, with that, mr. speaker, i would recommend that we pass this legislation, build on top of the $600 million we've already provided, allow ms. granger and myself to bring forward to the full congress the additional funds that they need in the normal appropriations process. remember, this $1.9 billion isn't needed today. it's needed over a multiyear period. and we're providing it over a number of years and we're doing it without adding to the national debt. it seems to me pretty clear, we

actually -- both sides have the same aim here. we want to take care of an you are jebt health care process. the -- urgent health care process. the difference is the chairman has presented first the $600 million we've already deployed, and the $622 million that we'll deploy in this bill, and the additional money that will come in the normal appropriations process, everything we need. so in some sense this argument is an argument we don't need to have. unless your aim is simply to have $1.2 billion -- excuse me, $1.9 billion more. so with that i want to thank the chairman for what he's done. i look forward to continuing to work with my friends on the other side of the aisle. at the end of the day, we'll have more than enough money. the difference will be, we'll not have added one cent to the national debt. with that i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: i'm very pleased to yield three minutes to a distinguished member of the appropriations committee and the budget committee, the gentlelady from california, representative lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for three minutes. ms. lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker. thank you, congresswoman lowey, for yielding. and also for your very steady and effective leadership on our committee. mr. speaker, as a member of the labor, h.h.s. and state and foreign precipitations subcommittees, i rise today in strong opposition to h.r. 5243, which is the so-called zika funding bill. earlier this week the majority finally decided to act on zika. yet their proposal shows just how unwilling they are to take this crisis seriously. even now they've offered barely 1/3 of the resources needed to fight zika. not only are my republican colleagues' efforts three months late, they're also woefully inadequate to address this major public health emergency. if that weren't enough, republicans have once again

included poison pills that have no place in this legislation. while we are trying to work to protect our nation's most vulnerable, including pregnant women and their children, the majority is putting politics over public health and that is just wrong. the zika outbreak has already spread to more than 26 countries, including in the united states and our territories. sadly, there have been two zika deaths in puerto rico. this summer americans living in southern states face tremendous risks from the virus. not only does this bill underfund our zika response, it raids vital funding for other dangerous infectious diseases such as ebola. not quite -- now, quite frankly, we should not roll the dice should another ebola outbreak occur, and we know how this appropriations process .orks

i don't want to chance that. we appropriated ebola funding for ebola. this is not the time to rob peter to pay paul. the experts are clear. we need the full $1.9 billion emergency request without offsets. we've seen war funding, emergency supplementals fly through this house without many questions raised. this is an emergency. and we need to treat it as such. finally, this bill includes hyde-like language, a dangerous ride that are denies access to abortion coverage for women, if they're poor, a veteran, in the military, or a federal government employee. politicians have no business denying women's health coverage based on her income, her employer or her zip code. once again, the majority has decided to put their extremist ideology over public health. why in the world would they put this rider in this zika funding bill? it doesn't make any sense and it's wrong. it's been three months since the world health organization declared zika virus as a public health emergency. that was february. three months since the

president requested emergency funds. the time to act is now. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote to reject this bill and let's instead pass a bill with adequate funding and without ideological , anti-women riders. the american people can't afford to wait much longer for congress to get this right. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the chairman of the subcommittee on appropriations for state department and foreign operations, the gentlelady from texas, ms. granger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. granger: mr. speaker, i 243, in support of h.r. 5 the zika response appropriation act. this bill provides $622 million to respond to the zika virus. both at home and abroad. as chair of the state and foreign operations appropriations subcommittee, i

want to highlight funds in the bill for the international response efforts to stop the virus at its source. this includes mosquito control activities to prevent the spread of the virus, public information campaigns to get the message out about zika, and evacuations of americans when needed. these efforts will build on work that has already begun. after my colleagues and i urged swift action, the administration decided to redirect $589 million of funds already on hand to respond to the zika virus. this funding bill is the next step. it provides our best estimate of what is needed for the remaining months of this fiscal year. as we draft the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bills, and information about the threat of zika becomes more clear, the threat of zika becomes more clear and we can address at that time any additional

requirements through our regular process. unlike the president's request, the activities supported in this bill are targeted and focused. this bill also contains strong oversight provisions and is fully offset. h.r. 5243 provides what is needed now to respond to the zika virus, and i urge my colleagues to support it. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: i am pleased to yield four minutes to the ranking member on the legislative branch subcommittee, the gentlelady from florida, representative wasserman schultz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for four minutes. was was was thank you, mr. speaker. i -- ms. wasserman schultz: wast thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentlelady from new york for her leadership on this issue. i join my colleagues in urging congress to vote down this holey -- wholly inadequate legislation and take meaningful action to address the public

health crisis, the centers for disease control called scarier than we originally thought. and support the president's request. my home state of florida leads the nation in confirmed cases of the zika virus. with 113 people infected already and counting. florida health officials declared a state of emergency in february. as we head into mosquito season, as well as high travel season, we know the risk of zika will rise. we have seen the heartbreaking images of babies born with microcephaly. as researchers are continuing to learn more about the different ways that zika can be transmitted, it is critical that congress provide the funding needed to thoroughly tackle this virus now. i am proud that we have transcended partisan lines in florida at least. senators nelson and rubio, as well as governor scott have all been outspoken advocates in support of the president's request to fight this disease, which he made nearly three months ago. and i have heard many of my house republican colleagues acknowledge the devastating effects of this disease and the

need for serious proposals to combat it. sadly, the only serious part of the bill before us is how far it is from meeting our nation's needs and overcoming this public health crisis. the bill that the republican leadership has introduced will not provide meaningful support to my constituents or constituents affected by this across the country. among its many other shortcomings, this bill would raid funds from accounts designated for ebola, which as many public health officials have testified already is still a threat, robbing peter to pay paul is irresponsible. it also fails to provide any specific resources to puerto rico, where americans are suffering the greatest burden of what dr. thomas friedman, the directors -- the director for the centers of disease control, recently called an epidemic. and continued attacks on women's ability to make reproductive health decisions. this bill only provides these limited and borrowed funds until september 30, when they will then expire. let me assure you that

mosquitoes and diseases do not follow the congressional budget calendar. i urge the entire house to quickly pass legislation that i have introduced, along with my colleagues, ranking member lowey, and ranking member delauro, which would support the president's request of $1.9 billion. we cannot simply watch more people get infected with zika, as we dither over how we fund critical investments into vaccine research, prevention strategies and finding a cure. this is a mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted virus. mosquitoes don't know whether they're biting a republican or a democrat. and we should not politicize this serious crisis. the national institutes of health, the centers for disease control and prevention, and the department of health and human services have repeatedly provided plans that clearly detail the needs for these funds and how they would be spent. our local public health facilities, particularly in florida, the gulf states and puerto rico, need added resources. as do our local mosquito control programs. we need more investments into vector control and mosquito eradcation.

we need more public education and we need more resources to ensure that people are are able to protect themselves. and i will quote my colleague from the senate, senator marco rubio, that we must, and i agree with him, we must get out in front of this. we will only have ourselves to blame if we dither and don't do so. so i say to my colleagues, we must act responsibly. we must responds appropriately and we must do it quickly. and this bill does not come close to doing that. so i will cast my vote against it. in hopes that we will reach an agreement that actually promotes the amount of resources that address this burgeoning crisis. my constituents cannot wait. and neither can yours. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida yields back the balance of her time. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, can i inquire of the time remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 13 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from new york has 18 minutes remaining. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the appropriations chairman of the subcommittee for commerce,

justice and science, the gentleman from texas, mr. culberson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. culberson: thank you, mr. chairman. the zika virus does pose a genuine emergency situation and as in any emergency, requires a calm head, clear thinking, and rational approach to dealing with the problem. absent of emotion. you've got to be careful and thoughtful about these things and as with any emergency situation, you've got to trust the experts. and the experts in the field have told us that the ebola virus is no longer as serious a threat as it was, that emergency has passed. we now need to focus on this zika virus which is now beginning -- we're beginning to see cases in the united states. so in a thoughtful, careful, rational way, the republican majority has made certain that the money, our constituents' hard-earned tax dollars, are wisely and prudently spent. we first recognized chairman rogers