U.S. Representative Patrick E. Murphy (FL-18) is calling on Congress to reconvene immediately and take action on emergency Zika funding as the number of locally transmitted cases in Florida jumped to fourteen after the first cases in the continental U.S. were identified on Friday.  Today, the state requested an emergency response team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assist with ongoing prevention and response efforts on the ground.

"Since February, I have been calling on Congress to provide the emergency funding needed for prevention, detection, and response efforts before this threat to public health worsened.  It was beyond frustrating that Congress left for the summer without passing any funding measure even as the number of travel-related cases continued to increase," said Murphy.  "Now our fears have been realized with local transmissions occurring in Florida, surpassing a dozen cases in just a few days time.  This serious threat to public health will only be exacerbated by another five weeks of Congressional inaction.

"I am calling on the leadership of both chambers to put politics aside and the health of the American people first.  Congress should immediately reconvene and pass a clean emergency funding measure – without the divisive policy riders that derailed earlier legislation – so that states like Florida have the resources needed to fight this virus."

Murphy is a cosponsor of H.R. 5044 and has continually called on Congress to pass this bill providing the full $1.9 billion in emergency Zika funding requested by the President in February.  Additionally, he introduced the SMASH Act to provide critical resources to state and local governments to help fight the spread of Zika and called on Florida Governor Rick Scott to expand Medicaid and release family planning dollars to help combat the spread of Zika.

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