In the debate leading up to the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Democrats of pointing “to a series of partisan excuses” in order to drag their feet. Republicans want to use emergency war funds to artificially increase the basic defense budget by $16 billion next year. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said he wants to keep negotiating into the fall on full-year spending measures. But a year-end negotiation would also give GOP leaders one last shot at influencing federal spending in the event Republicans lose control of one or both chambers of Congress in 2017.
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The 2016 Presidential race continues to loom heavily over how Congress will work and be shaped past November’s ballot.
Democrats have successfully used similar tactics several times in recent years, and Republicans have not found an effective strategy to fight back. House Republicans have a more comfortable advantage of 247-186, but they face the possibility of significant losses of their own.
The need for funding has grown with the spread of Zika in Florida, as the southern part of the state is the hardest hit region in the continental U.S. Wilson said she has spent weeks communicating with CDC teams on the ground in Miami that are working to contain the virus. McConnell has said he plans to bring the same measure up again for a vote immediately when Congress returns.
The House is expected to re-examine how to fund the government’s response to the Zika virus crisis after a measure created to designate funding failed the chamber earlier this summer.
Governor Scott was supposed to be in Washington D.C. this week to talk to members of Congress about Zika funding.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is spending down the $222 million that had been diverted from other programs to combat the Zika virus. “The urgency is here, we must act upon it, and Congress must act”.
Basically, senate democrats blocked a 1.1 billion dollar bill to fight the Zika virus because this same bill passed by the House included other items democrats just couldn’t wrap their heads around.
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Republicans are expected to hold closed-door meetings throughout the week to gauge how willing members are to negotiate with Democrats on either issue. Tuesday’s vote could prod Republicans to attach Zika money to temporary spending legislation.
