“This is no way to fight an epidemic”, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the New York Times this week. “And that window of opportunity is closing”.
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The Zika virus has created a odd political brew because of the way the virus affects pregnant women and the potential for birth defects.
Gibbs, a Holmes County Republican, warned that mosquitoes could start spreading the Zika virus in the United States this summer.
“With so many women and families across the country looking for action, it is critical that members of Congress immediately follow the Senate’s swift action and approve at least $1.1 billion in emergency Zika funding as soon as possible so that we can help stem the spread of this very bad virus”, he said in a news release. The House bill also only provides enough money to fight Zika through the September 30 end of the budget year.
Though both democrats and republicans both agree steps must be taken to confront the virus, the Obama Administration and republicans now disagree on whether the funding to combat the Zika virus is available. “I’m not optimistic. I think the Republicans that are blocking this both in the House and the Senate are going to rue the day because this is going to be a problem”. “This bill has nothing to do with combating Zika”. Opponents say it’s actually just an end-run against EPA pesticide regulations that the GOP has been trying to push through since 2011. Democrats said they wanted time to read the massive bill but McConnell suspected the motives weren’t so pure – especially in an election year when Democrats believe they have a real shot at taking back the majority. “When we were having West Nile, they called it a West Nile bill”, DeFazio said on the House floor. “So why, my friends, are we acting on it today?”
Most Democrats and the Obama White House oppose the legislation, calling it an attack on environmental laws and are angry that Republicans are claiming it is needed to fight the mosquitoes that can transmit Zika.
Toddlers and infants joined four senators and Heidi Murkoff, the author of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and its related titles, to make an argument for increased federal funding to combat Zika based on the people most affected by the virus: mothers and their babies. So far, the more than 500 cases reported on the mainland involve someone who got the disease elsewhere first. About half the money the House appropriates comes out of existing funds to fight Ebola.
But even the Senate bill is not acceptable to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who wants the full $1.9 billion sought by the president in February.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said funds to continue the program in the next fiscal year and beyond will be brought to a vote later in the year.
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So they went ahead and made their own “independent determinations on necessary funding levels”. House Democrats have spoken out against both the House and Senate measures, and the White House has threatened to veto the House bill.
