mrs. lowey: i yield three minutes to our distinguished democratic whip, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. r. hoyer: i thank the speaker. i like mr. diaz-balart but if i get sick i hope it doesn't take 90 days for the emergency responders to come to my aid. february 2 is when the administration said we needed this fun -- needed this money. almost 90 days later, we're talking about one third of what they said was necessary. mr. speaker, our nation faces a very real and present danger from zika. our people face that crisis. already more than 1,200 americans, including more than 110 pregnant women have confirmed cases of zika virus. would that have been the case if we'd acted on february 22? i do not know. i certainly wouldn't want to rely on this congress to enact -- to enact in a timely fashion anything. we know that there is a link between zika virus and severe irth defects, including microc ephaly, for which there is n

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 scienti

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 a

bishop, mrs. lowey and mr. rogers on our side and all the members of the subcommittee on both sides. again thank you. this bill does provide for our veterans, our service members and their families and it's a very good bill and i urge adoption and i yield back. the chair: all time and during consideration of the bill for amendment, each amendment shall be debatable for 10 minutes equally between. no pro form ave amendment and or their respective designees may offer up to 108 pro forma amendments for the purposes of debate. the chair at any point for the purposes of debate, the chair of the committee of the whole may accord priority on the basis of whether the member has caused it to be printed in the congressional record designated for that purpose. amendments so printed shall be considered read. he clerk will read. the clerk: the following sums are appropriated, department of veterans' affairs and related agencies for 2017, family title 1, department of defense litary construction, army, $503,459,000 to remain

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, the republican zika bill provides $622 million, about 1/3 of the $1.9 billion requested. the bill also steals more ebola funding as an offset, so instead of replenishing what was already redirected to zika. we don't offset spending to respond to emergencies, and we certainly don't steal from prior emergency response efforts still under way when a new emergency arises. let's just consider my friend's recent history. emergency funding was provided to response -- respond to both ebola and h1n1. in last year's omnibus, congress used emergency funding without offsets to pay for wildland fire suppression, mostly in the west. congress also provided emergency funding to respond to two hurricanes and flooding in the carolinas and texas, again without offsets. when those disasters struck, we didn't steal money from prior disaster response like the emergency funding provided for hurricane damage in louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida, or storms in west virginia, orator nadse in

mrs. lowey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. lowey: thank you, mr. speaker. before i make my statement i just want to respond to our distinguished chair, the labor-hhs subcommittee. as the chairman of the appropriations committee introduced subcommittee allocations for either the labor-hhs or state foreign operations subcommittee, the answer is no. has the chairman set markup dates for the labor-hhs or state foreign operations bill? the answer is no. so there is no chance that congress will send either appropriations bill to the president by september 30. this really is a charade. c.d.c. director says, three months is an eternity for control of an outbreak. there is a narrow window of opportunity here and it's closing. so, mr. speaker, i rise to urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can support a robust and aggressive response to an imminent public health emergency. researchers at harvard and c.d.c. reported that pregnant women who contract the zika

mrs. lowey. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. lowey: before i begin, i would like to thank chairman simpson, ranking member kaptur, chairman rogers for their work on the bill. the energy and water bill is the second bill we will consider on the floor this year. over and over again the majority has promised to return to regular order. well, without a budget resolution and this promise has clearly not been kept. the fiscal year 2017 energy and water development bill would allocate $37.4 billion in discretionary funding, $260 million above the fiscal year 2016 levels and $168 million above the administration's request. while this allocation is an improvement, the majority's continued disfunction jeopardizes congress' ability to meet the significant challenges we face including many in the bill before us. for instance, the bill does not adequately invest in infrastructure development. the american society of civil years estimates the united states must invest $3.6 trillion in our infras

as soon as that was known, the gentlewoman, mrs. lowey, the gentleman mr. rogers, the gentleman, mr. cole, went about and looking at a request to fill for the next five months hat would be some $1.2 billion that would be spent just this year remaining. we are in may. just until the end of september . the president asked $1st9 million for five years -- $1.9 million for five years and we gave $1.2 million of that for five months. we are accelerating the money that is necessary to n.i.h. the minority leader outlined how terrible this destructive behavior can be to a child. to an embryo. we agree. but to suggest that republicans are reckless is not fair. what is fair to say is that we are responding appropriately. we are responding immediately. and we are putting it together before we are gone next week on a work period that when we are gone next week, we are doing it this week. we are moving it as quickly as possible. if we weren't, we would be accused of the reverse, evidently. mr. speaker, the republican party, the gentleman, mr. cole, the gentleman, mr. rog

as soon as that was known, the gentlewoman, mrs. lowey, the gentleman mr. rogers, the gentleman, mr. cole, went about and looking at a request to fill for the next five months hat would be some $1.2 billion that would be spent just this year remaining. we are in may. just until the end of september . the president asked $1st9 million for five years -- $1.9 million for five years and we gave $1.2 million of that for five months. we are accelerating the money that is necessary to n.i.h. the minority leader outlined how terrible this destructive behavior can be to a child. to an embryo. we agree. but to suggest that republicans are reckless is not fair. what is fair to say is that we are responding appropriately. we are responding immediately. and we are putting it together before we are gone next week on a work period that when we are gone next week, we are doing it this week. we are moving it as quickly as possible. if we weren't, we would be accused of the reverse, evidently. mr. speaker, the republican party, the gentleman, mr. cole, the gentleman, mr. rog