For the third time in two months, Senate Democrats blocked $1.1 billion in federal funding to fight the Zika virus on Tuesday. In voting down legislation to combat the imminent public health emergency posed by Zika, Democrats complained that Republicans slipped in a “poison pill” provision to limit funds to Planned Parenthood.
In reality, most of the funds to fight Zika would go toward developing a vaccine and diminishing Zika-capable mosquito populations before the disease can spread further, while another smaller portion would go to hospitals and clinics—other than the already amply funded Planned Parenthood—for prevention and treatment. Rather than defund Planned Parenthood, it would simply not send any new money their way. And yet, the day after they failed to pass Zika funding, Democratic senators repeated the same false claim: The bill as written, they insisted, would have robbed funds directly from the women’s health provider.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont repeated to THE WEEKLY STANDARD a version of Democratic leader Harry Reid’s false claim that women principally depend on Planned Parenthood. “A lot of the healthcare especially that women get is from Planned Parenthood,” he said. “You cut that out, there’s nobody there to give it to them.” Asked just how much the bill would rob from the abortion provider, Leahy insisted it would but suggested I “go ask the GOP” to what degree.
In describing the unacceptable legislation, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire went one step further to articulate the ghoulish undertone of Democrats’ opposition, “They defunded—they reduced significantly—support for family planning, and if you ever were looking at a time when it’s important to make sure families understand what options they have, now is the time.”
Another creative understanding of the legislation from Florida senator Bill Nelson featured a full defunding of Planned Parenthood, tastelessly slipped into the language at this national time of need—”Just the fact of monkeying with something that’s otherwise than Zika is ridiculous, and especially taking money away from the centers that help the women.”
Hawaii senator Brian Schatz, too, assured TWS the bill would have pulled money directly from Planned Parenthood and expressed his dismay that Republicans would stoop so low. Senator Jon Tester of Montana decried the bill as well, saying it “defunds family planning, which is interesting because it’s a sexually transmitted disease.” And, more soberly, “This is serious business and we shouldn’t be playing political games.”
Ideally, in times of emergency, a minority party in Congress wouldn’t play political games, but would instead accept such a bill that neither indulges nor expressly threatens its interests. Instead, Democrats have seized the opportunity to mischaracterize the bill and intensify the same stalemate from June 28, the last time funding to combat Zika failed in Congress.
Back in June, TWS’s John McCormack witnessed the same partisan charade on full display at a press conference with Harry Reid and the executive director of Planned Parenthood:
Now, as then, Democrats in Congress are either ignorant of the actual content of the “poisoned” proposal or they’re intentionally misleading the public in order to make political hay of a public health crisis and point the finger at Republicans.
And as long as federal funding to contain the virus remains uncertain, Democrats’ dishonesty will help fire up the liberal base for this fall’s high-stakes election.
