Every year, Chuck commits to traveling to all62 counties in New York to meet with constituents.
On September 5th, 2024, With growing concern for mosquito-borne illness in St. Lawrence County and the North Country, amid a surge in Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV) and West Nile Virus (WNV) cases in horses and mosquitoes and fears that deadly mosquito-borne diseases may spread to humans, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer launched a new push to combat what experts fear could become one of the worst New York State mosquito seasons in recent memory.Â
Schumer said he is launching a two-pronged push for the feds including calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which works in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure coordination and outline a plan for working with New York State and local communities to survey and track mosquitoes. The CDC and EPA must make sure communities have the resources they need to deal with the new threats that the mosquito population brings, like the surges in mosquito borne illnesses we are seeing this summer and could keep seeing into the future if the trend continues. Second, Schumer is pushing for a $2 million increase for the CDC’s Vector-Borne Diseases programs, which includes EEEV and WNV.