NOTICIAS

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) commented today after the U.S. Senate failed to advance funding to combat the Zika virus. Although Rubio voted for the funding, it failed to receive the 60 votes needed to advance.

“Shame on Washington for failing to pass Zika funding. We’ve been on top of this issue for five months, and it’s a failure of both parties in this town, including the President of the United States, that it’s taken this long to even get to this point. This total Washington leadership failure will have devastating consequences on those Americans already infected with Zika and many more who will become infected in the coming months.

“I realize this was not a perfect Zika bill, but getting this plan approved now is absolutely better than nothing. We need to get something done here, and we need to do it quickly.

“In Florida alone, we have almost 183 Zika cases, including 40 pregnant women. Just today we received confirmation that in Florida, a Zika-infected mother gave birth to a child with microcephaly. And Puerto Rico is suffering today like never before, with at least 1,809  total people infected so far, including at least 191 pregnant women.

“It’s simply unacceptable for us to do nothing, and I will continue to speak out and do what is necessary to make sure this public health risk gets the attention and the response that it deserves.”