U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined five of his House and Senate colleagues in urging President Obama to work with Congress on a critical anti-Zika package that would provide $1.1 billion in funding to help combat the growing threat posed by the Zika virus. The package would also temporarily relax certain regulations to allow for pesticide application as part of broader mosquito abatement programs.
“If the Administration does not work with Congress to address this potentially life-threatening issue, the Zika crisis in Puerto Rico will certainly spread to the continental United States, threatening the health and safety of all Americans, especially women of childbearing age and millions of unborn children,” the members wrote. “As Director Frieden said, the continental U.S. would have sprayed months ago if we had the alarming wide-spread Zika epidemic Puerto Rico is experiencing today.
“We urge you to consider Administrator McCarthy’s comments that spraying can be accomplished ‘safety and effectively’ and seriously consider these warnings from your directors at the CDC and the EPA. We must take action to quickly and appropriately commence a thorough mosquito abatement program, as included in the Zika conference package, immediately before the virus spreads further.”
Last month, Senate Democrats blocked this bicameral Zika proposal from advancing in the Senate after supporting a nearly identical funding bill weeks earlier. In April, Thune introduced a standalone bill, the Zika Response and Regulatory Relief Act, which would provide temporary waivers for certain pesticide permitting requirements in order to lessen the regulatory burden on mosquito control efforts.
Joining Thune on the letter were Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), and U.S. Reps. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) and Steve Scalise (R-La.).
Full text of the letter is below:
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to express our concerns on behalf of the millions of Americans, especially women of child-bearing age, regarding the severe, growing threat posed by the Zika virus and to urge your support for the Conference Report for H.R. 2577, which includes the Zika Response and Preparedness Act.
As you know, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Tom Frieden and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy recently emphasized the importance of aerial spraying for mosquitos to combat the Zika virus in Puerto Rico. With growing number of reports of pregnant women contracting Zika and concerns about the island’s mosquito abatement programs, both Administration officials encouraged aerial spraying, with Administrator McCarthy emphasizing that spraying was the “most important tool” at our disposal.
As you know, Members of the House and Senate worked together with your Administration in a thoughtful but expedient manner to create a bipartisan, bicameral compromise agreement to address the spread of the Zika virus. The House-passed Conference Report for H.R. 2577, the Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and Zika Response and Preparedness Act included $1.1 billion in funding to combat the Zika virus and flexibility for mosquito control applicators to allow mosquito-specific pesticide spraying. These measures will help combat the spread of Zika, protect women’s health, and save lives.
Eliminating the duplicative EPA permitting requirement for spraying pesticides by enacting legislation such as H.R. 897, the Zika Vector Control Act and S. 1500, the Sensible Environmental Protection Act, will significantly improve our nation’s ability to combat public health threats such as Zika.
The requirement to obtain a Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) pesticide general permit (PGP) was caused by a 2009 Federal Court decision and adds time-consuming, costly red-tape that discourages regular aerial spraying for mosquitos. Pesticides used to kill mosquitos are already approved and regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Eliminating this unnecessary, duplicative permit requirement will encourage communities to spray for mosquitos on a regular basis and help alleviate the burdens on our public health system by preventing the spread of Zika today, rather than reacting to it tomorrow.
If the Administration does not work with Congress to address this potentially life-threatening issue, the Zika crisis in Puerto Rico will certainly spread to the continental United States, threatening the health and safety of all Americans, especially women of childbearing age and millions of unborn children. As Director Frieden said, the continental U.S. would have sprayed months ago if we had the alarming wide-spread Zika epidemic Puerto Rico is experiencing today.
We urge you to consider Administrator McCarthy’s comments that spraying can be accomplished “safety and effectively” and seriously consider these warnings from your directors at the CDC and the EPA. We must take action to quickly and appropriately commence a thorough mosquito abatement program, as included in the Zika conference package, immediately before the virus spreads further.
Sincerely,