WASHINGTON (AP) – Election-year politics will rule the congressional calendar when lawmakers return from a seven-week recess.
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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.
Congress voted down the spending package by a 52-46 vote-falling short of the 60 votes needed-due to a movement from Senate Democrats who protested wording that they believe would limit funding to Planned Parenthood.
Earlier this year, President Obama called on Congress to allocate $1.9 billion in emergency funding to fight the invasion of Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes and sex.
As they did before Congress left for the summer, Senate Democrats refused to pass Zika legislation that banned funding for Planned Parenthood, and Republicans refused to consider a bill that didn’t cut off money for the women’s health care provider. The disease is spread by mosquitos.
As of late August, there were more than 2,700 cases in U.S. states and more than 14,000 in USA territories, most of which were reported in Puerto Rico. The remainder of the cases were travel-related. Despite the fact that Zika can cause severe birth defects, Rubio last month went on the record as opposing abortions for Zika-infected women.
Mosquito season typically lasts through October and transmission could continue through that time period.
CDC Director Thomas Frieden said this week that the agency has spent most of the $222 million it received. “Congress needs to act and it needs to act now”.
This time pressure has many, including Sen.
“Our colleagues across the aisle can point to a series of partisan excuses, but the bottom line is this: There is no good explanation for blocking these public health and national security funding bills”, he added, also referring to a vote on an unrelated defense bill.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday that he thinks it would make sense to combine the budget and Zika talks. What’s clear is tensions are boiling. In May, the Senate voted 89-8 to put $1.1 billion into the effort.
Speaking to the potential showdown with conservatives in the House, Reid described those provisions as unacceptable “Freedom Caucus bells and whistles”.
Democrats have successfully used similar tactics several times in recent years, and Republicans have not found an effective strategy to fight back.
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“We passed something here with 89 votes”. And, House Republican leaders might see a short-term CR as the way to maintain control of the process in a lame duck session, especially if it appears that Democrats could control the Senate in the new Congress. While Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Paul Ryan have indicated they would prefer a stop-gap spending measure to go to December, the entire Republican conference will meet on Friday morning for a closed-door session to discuss how they will move forward.
