A tense partisan climate has led to inaction on several issues like funding research for the mosquito-borne Zika virus and moving forward with an anti-terrorism package in response to the nightclub shooting massacre in Orlando. Scott had meant to meet with members of Congress, who return this week from a seven-week recess. The vote could prompt GOP leaders to try to attach money to battle Zika to a must-do temporary spending bill that is the top priority for an abbreviated pre-election session of Congress.
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-Keeping the government open: It may seem like a simple task, but as in previous years, policy disputes between the two parties have kept the House and Senate from passing spending bills before the October 1 deadline. Democrats have objected to a GOP provision that effectively prevents funding from going to ProFamilias, a partner of Planned Parenthood in Puerto Rico, where Zika cases have grown. But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week that he and President Barack Obama will oppose that approach and press for a short-term measure until December.
The issue has become a campaign issue for the incumbent, who’s seeking a third term in the Senate this fall. One possibility is attaching a Zika compromise to a massive funding bill. Republicans controlling Congress promise they won’t stumble now, but the weeks ahead could prove tricky.
Lawmakers have four weeks to hammer out a spending deal before the fiscal year ends September 30, but some are already warning the task will not be easy. The Senate’s recess starts a week later. A shutdown is highly unlikely, but a showdown over Zika money could keep tensions running high in Washington and at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. House passed a bill in June calling for $1.1 billion in funding.
But members of Congress didn’t leave Washington this summer without putting some bills in movement. The panels – the Senate Aging, Judiciary and House Oversight Committees – are expecting briefings from Mylan this week. Republican critics of the transaction say it was a ransom deal.
“At this point, I think Congress is just trying to do the minimal amount needed to keep the government open and then get out of town without looking too bad”, Wolfensberger said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat pushing numerous fights, said he’ll take steps to gum up Senate business, preventing committees from meeting beyond noon each day, until the GOP schedules a hearing on Judge Merrick Garland, Mr. Obama’s nominee to the high court.
House Republicans will head into their first conference meeting on Wednesday divided on how long a continuing resolution should be.
But Republicans will have to choose between policy and politics in the coming weeks. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Congress and the public are still missing key pieces of information.
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican member of the Senate Health Appropriations Subcommittee, expressed a similar sentiment during the recess. McConnell’s Deputy Chief of Staff Don Stewart said in a statement. They’re also upset by what they see as Ryan’s foot-dragging on their efforts to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. The move is in direct contrast to what House leadership deems a potentially risky precedent for declaring impeachments.
“We need to do whatever it takes to make sure Zika gets controlled”, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican.
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Both parties have faced criticism for their failure to pass a measure that would provide $1.1 billion for fighting the Zika virus. The bill included a provision that would prevent suspected terrorists from buying guns. “The question is whether the House will go along with any deal the Senate reaches”. “But don’ worry, we will continue to act”.
