Morning Consult: Administration Will Use Ebola Funding for Zika, but $1.9B Request Stays

Morning Consult - Mary Ellen Mcintire

The Obama administration will transfer $589 million, including $510 million that was originally allocated for Ebola, to fight the Zika outbreak, but is still calling on Congress to fund a $1.9 billion emergency funding request from February.

“We should not play with fire here,” Donovan said. “We should not risk the outbreak spreading and getting out of control before Congress acts.”

The administration needed to scale up efforts against the mosquito-borne virus as the looming spring and summer weather brings more mosquitos to the continental United States and the number of cases in Puerto Rico and other territories grows, Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Wednesday on a call with reporters.

Officials have been open to using a portion of funds previously allocated for Ebola, but maintain that it will not be “a sufficient response to significant threat posed by Zika,” Donovan said. He did not say how long the funding would cover necessary actions against the virus.

“Without the full amount,” he said, activities “that need to start right now would have to be delayed and curtailed or stopped within months.”

Funding the full emergency request would also replace the funding that would have gone towards Ebola, which is still necessary, he said. Ebola remains a global threat, and continued outbreaks in West Africa demonstrate why continuing to fund those programs are necessary, said Heather Higginbottom, deputy secretary for management and resources, told reporters on the call.

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, has committed to replenishing the funds, Donovan said.

House Appropriations Committee leaders, including Rogers and Reps. Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who respectively chair the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee and the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee, had called on the administration to use existing funding because the country needs to quickly respond to the outbreak, the trio said in a statement.

“We will look carefully at the details of today’s proposal by the Administration to ensure the best and most effective use of these funds, and to provide proper oversight,” they said. “As we move forward, the Appropriations Committee will continue to monitor the changing needs resulting from this unpredictable crisis to assure the resources necessary for the response are available.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, said Wednesday he supported transferring the money to the Zika account. Congressional Republicans had pushed for using the Ebola funding before allocating new funding to fight Zika.

“From what they tell me, I think that should cover it,” he told reporters.

Zika funding could also come in the appropriations process, which will be kicking off in the Senate later this month. Donovan said there were “real consequences and risks of waiting.”

Signifiant research is still needed to learn about Zika and how to properly respond to it, which is part of the reason why more funding is needed, said Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell.

Further research would help develop vaccines and diagnostics, which researchers have already started working on though there are still many unknowns, she said.

“I think we have been clear, this money can get us started,” she said. “We do not want to be in a place where we run out of those funds.”

Online:Morning Consult