Congress is back in Washington this week to work on completing a spending bill ahead of a September 30 deadline.
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Even Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri admitted that this attack on Planned Parenthood was likely standing in the way of the critical funding.
“I’m still stunned that the Republican leader made a decision to have a seven-week vacation, and it was more important to do that than funding our nation’s Zika response”, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said.
Republicans would have no choice but to eliminate the controversial provisions, such as language targeting Planned Parenthood, if the Zika package goes into the government spending bill. But President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are dead set against the idea – they want a full-year spending agreement completed this year – and Ryan said he wants to keep negotiating on the full-year spending bills through the fall. They say impeaching Koskinen risks making GOP lawmakers look overly partisan, potentially alienating moderate voters, but voting “no” would anger conservatives whose support they’ll need in November’s elections.
As of late August, there were more than 2,700 cases in USA states and more than 14,000 in U.S. territories, most of which were reported in Puerto Rico.
Federal and state health officials say the funding is needed as the mosquito-borne virus that causes severe birth defects continues to make inroads into Florida.
Congress does not have time for political games.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said 80 pregnant women in his state have Zika.
With a two-thirds majority required for impeachment conviction in the Senate, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., all but dared Republicans to stage such a trial, saying, “Everyone knows the man is not going to be impeached”.
But they’ll get a fight from the conservatives in the House, particularly from members of the Freedom Caucus, who insist that any continuing resolution must extend into the new year to get them past a lame duck Congress.
Lawmakers have been deadlocked for months over a $US1.1 billion funding bill. They also want to overlook that both houses of Congress are willing to fund significant amounts of additional Zika funding.
Returning from a seven-week break to the measure with which the last Senate session ended, Democrats voted unanimously to stop the legislation from moving forward and ending debate, opposing measures that would have blocked funding for reproductive health group Planned Parenthood and allowed Confederate flags to fly at military cemeteries.
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The vice president added that he’s well-acquainted with the practice of attaching irrelevant political riders to important legislation.
