Fears are rising as the Zika virus has become a national concern. Yet Americans are still waiting for relief. Why? More federal money is needed to combat the Zika virus, but Senate Republicans are more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood than dealing with an immediate threat to public health.
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Passing our bill should have been simple.
It’s time for all lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, to stop the foolishness, act like adults and pass this bill. She lives in Miami, Fla., ground zero for the Zika virus in the United States. Countless others live in fear of being infected.
Then the dysfunction and politics began.
On Tuesday when the Senate reconvened, Democrats blocked legislation that would fund efforts to fight Zika due to a GOP effort that would prevent money toward contraception from Planned Parenthood in order to fight the spread of the mosquito-borne disease, which can be sexually transmitted.
To support this position, The Daily Signal cited evidence from a number of anti-abortion organizations such as the Susan B. Anthony List and the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Senate negotiations are centered around $1.1 billion in funding to fund the federal government’s response to the virus, the amount included in the Senate’s original bill to respond to the virus and the conference report negotiated by top appropriators in both the House and the Senate. Ted YohoTed YohoRyan refuses to back down on Zika fight over Planned Parenthood GOP drops hints in budget showdown Florida GOP ready to retreat from Planned Parenthood fight MORE.
Shaheen, of course, blames Republicans for her obstructionism. Yet, who is really being obstructionist here? According to Lawrence, Planned Parenthood has long “provided ongoing well-woman services and contraceptives to millions … and has been oftentimes the best access for some underprivileged women to get access to contraception”. As fact-checkers at the media-run Politifact noted, everywhere there is a clinic in Puerto Rico, there is “another type of facility that would have been eligible for additional funding to combat the spread of Zika”.
Florida’s Democratic Senator, Bill Nelson, said Republicans had ruined any chances of the Zika bill being passed by adding so many stipulations to which they knew Democrats would never agree. “People’s health, the well-being of unborn children, the health of the country at large, is at stake”.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that Democrats want Zika funding added to stop-gap legislation that Congress must pass by October 1 to keep federal agencies operating.
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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that “appropriate measures” will be taken handed down “in the very near future”. I appeal to my colleagues to lay aside political calculations.
