HOUSTON – With the possibility of the first Zika case being contracted in the continental United States, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Houston was not receiving the federal funding needed to deal with this type of eventuality.
"The city of Houston, at this point, is on its own," Mayor Turner said. "The state says we're looking to the feds. The feds are being the feds."
Congress has yet to approve nearly $2 billion in federal funding for states to combat the virus. Months of squabbling between Republicans and Democrats stalled the measure.
"It does appear that our government on both the federal and state level is waiting for the crisis to just break out in the United States or in the state of Texas. Once you get to that point, we're going to be chasing the ball," said Turner.
The sense of urgency comes as Florida reports it is investigating what could be the first case of a mosquito transmission of Zika in the U.S. So far, the cases here involved people who contracted the virus in a foreign country before bringing it home.
This new case prompted a response from President Barack Obama, who again called on Congress to appropriate the money. Many states have complained about a lack of federal funding in dealing with the virus.
"We are pretty much having to utilize the limited resources that we have to do everything we can to be preventative and to try to keep the virus from coming to the city of Houston," said Turner.
Congress is on its summer break, but is expected to pick up the issue when it returns. Meanwhile, the Houston area has been aggressive in testing mosquitos to make sure none here are carrying the virus.