House and Senate Republican leaders are pressuring reluctant Democrats to accept a deal to temporarily fund the government in the fight against Zika, promising to include aide for Flint, Mich., in a separate measure.
Senate Democrats said they oppose a deal that would keep the government funded until Dec. 9 and provide $1.1 billion to combat the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus. Party lawmakers are insisting the legislation also include more than $200 million to help Flint deal with a lead-contaminated water supply.
A Senate vote to advance the measures is scheduled for Tuesday but Democrats will block it.
“They will not get cloture,” a top Democratic aide told the Washington Examiner, because the bill, “does not include lead money.”
But Republicans said Monday Democrats should accept a GOP offer to include the Flint money in the Water Resources Development Act, which authorizes water resources projects.
“I think the best place to deal with that is in WRDA,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a floor speech Monday that the chamber had already passed the WRDA bill with the money included for Flint.
He accused Democrats of dragging out the fight over government spending because “they think it’s good election-year politics.”
The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, which means Congress must pass a funding bill by Friday or parts of the federal government will be forced to close.
The deal now hinges on Flint.
“Turns out, they’re trying to take our country to the brink not based on something that’s in this bill, but something that isn’t,” McConnell said. “And it’s something the Senate already just addressed in the appropriate vehicle to do so.”
The House will vote on its own version of a water resources bill this week and the measure could include the Flint money added as an amendment, a GOP aide said.
If the money is not included in the House bill, McCarthy said the funds would be added when the Senate and House hammer out a compromise deal later this year.
“It’s in the Senate version,” McCarthy said. “We just have to go to conference.”
The Senate Democratic aide said after Democrats block the bill in the Senate on Tuesday, “The ball is in the GOP’s court to put forward something that can pass, which includes a path forward for lead money.”
