A new video from Senate Democrats charges Republicans with ignoring “scary projections” of the Zika virus by not approving President Obama’s $1.9 billion funding request.
The video released Monday starts off with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he took the reins of the Senate in January. McConnell said that congressional Republicans wouldn’t be “scary.”
“I don’t want the American people to think if they add a Republican president to a Republican Congress, that is going to be a scary outcome,” the video quotes McConnell from the Washington Post.
The video said the GOP is in fact being “scary” as it isn’t acting on the funding request President Obama made in February.
GOP lawmakers have said they need more information about how the funding would be used, and some in the House have expressed interest in having the request go through the normal appropriations process later this year.
Negotiations for a $1.1 billion deal in the Senate collapsed two weeks ago due to opposition in the House. Then Congress took a week-long recess, much to the chagrin of Democrats who pushed for a deal before leaving town.
The Zika virus typically causes a mild illness, and only one in five people show symptoms. However, federal agencies have linked the virus to a birth defect called microcephaly and believe it may cause a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome that causes temporary paralysis.
Zika spreads mainly through mosquito bites, but so far U.S. mosquitoes aren’t carrying Zika. The White House believes that could change as mosquito season approaches.
