While Jolly admitted the mosquitoes weren’t active carriers of the virus, he said “they could be”.
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In the Senate, on Tuesday night Democrats blocked a Zika funding bill, complaining that it included a provision to prevent funding for Planned Parenthood and no longer included a provision in the House bill banning Confederate flags from veterans’ cemeteries.
A Florida congressman appeared to threaten to unleash a virus on the U.S. House of Representatives over its inaction. “The politics of Zika are garbage right now”, the Florida lawmaker said in a short, angry speech condemning Congress for failing to pass legislation providing $1.1 billion to combat the mosquito-borne virus.
Congress is dragging its feet on funding the fight against the Zika virus and one Florida congressman is taking a theatrical step in protest. “This is the fear of Floridians, right here”.
The Florida Department of Health reported Tuesday that the state has had 56 cases of locally transmitted Zika.
“It is our job to respond to the fear and the anxiety and the anger of a population concerned about a pending public health crisis, concerned about mosquitoes”, he was quoted as saying.
“Can you imagine, colleagues, the fear and anxiety in this chamber if these 100 mosquitos were outside of this jar and not inside this jar?” Members of Congress would run down the hall to the physician’s office to be tested.
“That is why I am joined by these mosquitoes today”, he said.
“The House did its job, and the Senate has been blatantly political with Zika funding”, he said.
Jolly, who is now up for reelection against former governor Charlie Crist, urged Congress to fund measures combatting the virus, especially efforts to develop a vaccine.
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Jolly was trying to communicate the distress and anxiety Floridians are feeling over growing reports of the insect-born disease in the Miami area.
