A Florida Republican took to the House floor on Wednesday with a jar full of mosquitoes, and said Congress would be a lot more responsive to the Zika virus if they were released into the chamber.
“Can you imagine, colleagues, the fear and anxiety in this chamber if these hundred mosquitoes were outside this jar, not inside this jar?” asked Rep. David Jolly as he held the clear canister in his hand while calling on Congress to prevent the public health crisis that is affecting his home state. “I brought these mosquitoes here today to convey that fear and anxiety of millions of Americans.”
Jolly said that though the mosquitoes he held up were capable of carrying the virus, they were not infected. He said the insects were provided by the University of South Florida’s college of public health, which he said is in need of more funding to continue its extensive research into combating the Zika virus.
While Congress was out of session for seven weeks after failing to reach an agreement to fund a federal response, he reported that Zika infections rose from 4,000 to over 16,000, including one non-travel related case in his home district.
Congress left for the summer without any resolution on how to fund efforts to fight Zika, even though members of both parties want to direct more federal funds to the effort. Republicans wanted to pull out existing funds to battle the virus, but Democrats blocked their bill, in part because they want new emergency funding for the effort.
Still, Jolly criticized Congress for failing to quickly respond to the concerns of millions of people and instead use public fear for political gain.
“This is the fear of Floridians, right here. It is not good enough to work on a compromise for months and months and months with no solution. The time for politics of Zika are over,” he said.
“The politics of Zika are garbage right now, the fact that candidates are gonna spend money on commercials about Zika instead of responding together in a bipartisan, bicameral way in a divided government to a public health crisis that Americans understand. We are wasting time. That is why I am joined by these mosquitoes here today.”
