CDC Director Warns Agency ‘Basically Out Of Money’ For Zika Response, Requests Congress Include Emergency Funding In Stopgap Spending Measure

CQ News: CDC Director Pushes for Zika Funds in Stopgap Spending Bill
“A stopgap spending measure without any additional funding for Zika would continue to complicate the federal response to the virus, Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on Tuesday. Frieden said that if a continuing resolution keeps CDC funding flat for the first few months of the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1, it will further delay the start of long-term research projects and will force the agency to make tough decisions about which accounts it might borrow from…” (Siddons, 8/30).

The Hill: CDC director on Zika: ‘Basically, we’re out of money’
“… ‘Basically, we’re out of money,’ Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters at a briefing in downtown Washington. ‘Congress needs to do something.’ Frieden is delivering his most urgent appeal since February for lawmakers to approve some or all of the Obama administration’s $1.9 billion request, about a week before the end of Congress’s summer recess…” (Ferris, 8/30).

Huffington Post: Congress Could Act On Zika Soon
“Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week after a seven-week break, and while a Zika funding bill has been stuck in the Senate over Democratic objections to particular policy riders and concerns that the $1.1 billion approved in the bill would come at the expense of other programs, Republican leaders indicated on a conference call late last week that they’re prepared to do something on Zika…” (Fuller, 8/30).

New York Times: U.S. Funding for Fighting Zika Virus Is Nearly Spent, CDC Says
“…As of Friday, the CDC had spent $194 million of the $222 million it was allocated to fight the virus, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the agency. Congress left for its summer recess without approving additional funding. Now that the virus is actively circulating in Florida, Dr. Frieden is pressing his case for funding with new urgency…” (Tavernise, 8/30).

Washington Post: Centers for Disease Control will run out of money to fight Zika in U.S. next month
“…Negotiations in Congress over a $1.9 billion Zika spending package fell apart in late June. Federal health officials have shifted money from elsewhere in the Department of Health and Human Services to fund the domestic response…” (Sun, 8/30).

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