"The emergency funding requests a total of $828 million… with particular attention to emergency assistance to the US Territory of Puerto Rico and the US Territories and States with local transmission of Zika virus," Frieden stated.
He added that the CDC is making an effort to "surge in resources" to specifically assist Puerto Rico.
Last week, the White House requested $1.8 billion in new funding to combat the mosquito-borne virus Zika virus as authorities declared a public health emergency across the western hemisphere. The virus has been detected in more than 30 countries and territories and linked to serious birth defects.
As a result of the debt crisis, Puerto Rico is unable to meet basic public health challenges, "let alone this new challenge" of Zika, Durbin explained.
The CDC has documented only nine cases of Zika in Puerto Rico, but anticipates the number to rise, because of the high susceptibility of the population to mosquito-borne viruses such as Dengue.
In August 2015, Puerto Rico defaulted on its $73 billion debt. The territory relies on the US federal government to approve any debt restructuring deal.