Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 3038

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Fortunately, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, there is no single case in the continental United States of a mosquito-borne infection in someone in the continental United States. But that is not to say this is not a serious matter. In fact, it is. That is why Republicans were glad to see the administration use the unexpended funds for the Ebola crisis--some $500 million--as a downpayment on what is going to be necessary to deal with this.

But the fact is, our friends across the aisle have requested a $1.9 billion blank check, and they haven't told us what the plan is for the use of the funds. In the bill filed by Senator Nelson, he said those funds will be spent until they are gone. And, of course, it is emergency spending, which is deficit spending and adds to the debt. But the legislation completely lacks any sort of accountability that would only come through a regular appropriations process where we consider this in a deliberate sort of way. So I have a number of questions for the Senator that I would ask.

I would note that I have traveled to the Galveston National Laboratory, which has done some world-class research in this area and also on the Ebola virus and other infectious diseases. Last Friday I was in Houston at the Texas Medical Center talking to the experts and trying to learn more about this so I can do my job as a Senator in a responsible sort of way.

We all agree that this is a serious matter and it should be negotiated on a bipartisan basis, but we should at least have a plan from the administration for how the money is going to be spent. There is no plan. It is a blank check. And until we get a plan and can sit down and avoid the histrionics and the gamesmanship and the partisanship on something that should be nonpartisan, we object to the request.

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, has the Democratic leader yielded the floor, or is it for a question?

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, let me just suggest that, contrary to what the Democratic leader has said, the questions I have asked about where their plan is are not nonsense, and let me demonstrate the specific questions which I have and which I think other responsible Senators are going to want answers to before we write a blank check for $1.9 billion to the administration, particularly when they already have access, as the Senator from Florida said, to the $589 million, which are unexpended Ebola funds.

One of the questions I would like to get answers to--and I think we can then have a meaningful discussion and act responsibly--is, What specific activities are going to be funded by the $1.9 billion plan? For example, the bill from the Senator from Florida provides $743 million to the Centers for Disease Control. Is that for domestic activities? Is it focused on Puerto Rico? Is it for CDC international activities? And if so, where?

The second question I have is, What are the agency's priorities? Continuing with the CDC issue, will they focus on vector control activities, outreach, and education? As we know, this is a mosquito- borne disease. It is not the only mosquito-borne disease, but unfortunately this mosquito has not only been present in Central and South America but is now, as the Democratic leader says, present in some of the more tropical climates, the warmer climates, including my State of Texas. So I take this personally and seriously. But it also affects Florida, no doubt about it, Louisiana, and we don't know how it might spread or how this virus might morph over time.

Another question I have is, How long does the administration expect to use the funding? For example, we have an annual appropriations process, which has been filibustered by our Democratic colleagues, starting with the Energy and Water bill, and now they want us to fund an emergency appropriation for an unlimited period of time without any plan to spend the money. That is irresponsible.

The request from the Senator from Florida in his bill says the money will be spent ``until expended,'' until it runs out, and they have provided no further details on what will be funded this year and in future years.

The reason I mention the appropriations process is that we all know we are in the appropriations season now, and it would be appropriate for the Committee on Appropriations to process this request and to come up with a recommendation for the full Senate, but that has not yet happened. I am told the discussions are ongoing, which is a good thing, and that is where this ought to be resolved, not through grandstanding on the Senate floor in an effort to try to make this a partisan issue. This is not a partisan or political issue. It should not be. There is bipartisan concern and willingness to address this issue. But can they spend $1.9 billion before the end of the fiscal year, when the appropriations process will start up again? In other words, it doesn't take a lot of thought to realize this is a request for a blank check without regard for the accountability that comes from what we call the regular order here in the appropriations process in the Senate.

We know the administration transferred funding from unobligated Ebola funds 2 weeks ago. What is the administration using that $589 million for that is related to Zika? I think we should know the answer to that. And that also demonstrates what happens when Congress appropriates money on an emergency basis without knowing what the plan is, because obviously the Ebola crisis has abated to some extent. I am not saying it has gone away completely, particularly in countries like Africa, but there is a pot of money--$589 million--which suggests maybe we inadvertently appropriated more money on an emergency basis for the Ebola crisis than ultimately was necessary. I am not faulting anybody for that; I am just saying that is the way this works when you ask for the money first without a plan and there is no accountability for how the money is spent. You have these pots of money out there that are-- fortunately in this case--available now to deal with the Zika issue.

In the Health and Human Services request contained in the bill from the Senator from Florida, there are other issues. One, they ask for a governmentwide contingency fund that Health and Human Services controls and can transfer funds elsewhere. So what they want to do is play a shell game with this money. They want to get the money, and if they do not need it to deal with Zika, they can transfer it for other purposes--again, without any transparency or any real political accountability.

I think responsible Members of the Senate--and I would expect all 100 of us would put ourselves in that category--would want to know where the transparency is, where the accountability is, where the plan is, so we can sit down and do this as mature adults in a nonpartisan way in order to solve the problem.

Here is another thing that sort of jumps out at me: When I look at the President's request for $1.9 billion, they actually talk about funding matters unrelated to Zika. They talk about funding things at the Environmental Protection Agency. And looking at the request to transfer funds governmentwide, basically they are requesting money, it appears--unless there is some logical explanation as to why we should, which they have not yet made--on an emergency basis, to grant funds to the Environmental Protection Agency. That is a little hard to understand.

Finally, there is this: All of us are willing to deal with this in a responsible, nonpartisan way. That is the reason I have spent time at the Galveston National Laboratory and the Texas Medical Center trying to learn as much as I can about this, so I can do my job, just as I am sure every individual Senator wants to do their job in a responsible way. But to come in and ask for $1.9 billion in emergency funding, which means it is not paid for--it is borrowed money, which adds to the deficit and the debt--is a pretty serious matter, especially when our national debt is $19 trillion and has almost doubled under the Obama administration.

This is a very serious matter, and I treat it seriously, and I trust all 100 Senators believe this is something we ought to deal with responsibly and in a deliberate sort of way, and we will. But it is not by coming to the floor and grandstanding by asking for $1.9 billion blank checks without any plan to spend it in an appropriate sort of way.

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