WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) led Heidi Murkoff, the internationally-known author of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” and several of his Senate colleagues to call on the House of Representatives and Republicans in the Senate to quickly move forward a bipartisan measure to provide $1.1 billion in emergency funding to help the United States prepare for the spread of the Zika virus.  The event came only days before Memorial Day Weekend, the official start of both the summer and mosquito seasons. The CDC recently announced that it is monitoring nearly 300 pregnant women in the United States and territories for possible Zika infections, meaning they could be at risk of delivering babies with microcephaly and other birth defects. 

Just yesterday, Senate Republicans stopped funding for Zika from moving forward by objecting to taking up the Senate-passed $1.1 billion compromise as an amendment to the House-passed Zika bill. Simply amending the House bill would enable Congress to quickly get this emergency funding passed; as it stands, the Senate must wait for the House to finish an unrelated appropriations bill in order for the Zika funds to go to a conference committee, an endeavor that has no end in sight. 

“We’re here today to talk about an issue that is really as simple as it gets.  There is a virus in Central America that has been spreading northward and that has devastating impacts for women and especially for newborn babies.  We know it’s coming to our country and as the weather’s getting warmer, our nation’s top medical experts say we must pass funding on an emergency basis to make sure that we are ready and that we are responding,” said Senator Coons.  “These doctors aren’t Democrats, they’re not Republicans – they’re doctors – and they know how to deal with viruses, and they know how to keep our families and our country safe.  So, along with the wonderful people who are here with us today, I find it extremely difficult to understand how we could just ignore the advice of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and our best medical experts.  Unfortunately, though, that’s what we’re dealing with here in the Senate as we go into Memorial Day, which is the official start of summer and the start of mosquito season, Congressional Republicans are simply refusing to deal with a virus that we know is spreading and spreading rapidly.”

“There is no better investment in our future than healthy beginnings for every mom and every baby. And the Zika virus threatens those healthy beginnings and our collective future,” said Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. 

“We stand with the thousands of moms, dads, and expectant parents across the country who have raised their voices in support of emergency funding to combat, treat and prevent the Zika virus,” said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO of MomsRising.org. “Millions of pregnant women and women of childbearing age could potentially be affected by Zika if we don’t act now. Congress must pass this necessary funding immediately – without it, quite frankly, we are unprepared for a known health crisis.”