Some lawmakers are angry that Congress has yet to reach an agreement on Zika funding, with former presidential candidate Marco Rubio saying no action is likely before Congress leaves for Memorial Day recess.
Last week, the House and Senate passed competing funding packages to address the spreading virus. The House passed $622 million in funding offset from other programs, while the Senate passed $1.1 billion in new funding. Neither chamber’s funding deal reached the $1.9 billion President Obama requested in February.
Neither House nor Senate leaders have appointed a conference committee to address the discrepancy in funding levels, and one Republican said it isn’t likely a deal will be reached any time soon.
“It is likely Congress will let at least another two weeks go by on this issue without any action,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Congress has refused to treat it with the urgency I believe it deserves.”
He called on people to demand answers from their representatives on why the funding hasn’t been approved yet. His state, which has 109 cases of people who picked up Zika while traveling to one of the countries where the virus is prevalent, is expected to be on the front lines this summer.
“We will have to answer to those who wonder why we didn’t act,” he said.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wanted to replace the $1.1 billion with the $1.9 billion when the House bill comes to the Senate.
“It’s only a matter of time before there is a local transmission in the continental U.S.,” he said on the Senate floor.
Zika is expected to hit Florida very hard. A recent study outlined 50 cities that are vulnerable to the Zika virus due to climate and prevalence of the mosquito that spreads the virus, Aedes aegypti.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., objected to such a move, saying that the Obama administration should use money left over from fighting the Ebola virus. The administration already used $500 million allocated to the Ebola virus to fight Zika, but has objected to using more and wants to use part of the $1.9 billion to replenish the Ebola fund.
Enzi said Congress allocated “more money to that than it needed and that’s why some of that money was brought over as an emergency.”
Meanwhile on the House side, another Florida Republican wants House leadership to name conferees as soon as possible to meet with the Senate.
“Every day we delay in getting a bill signed into law puts more Americans at risk. It’s crucial that you appoint a conference committee immediately to tackle this issue,” said Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., on Tuesday.
Buchanan, like Rubio, called for Republicans to adopt the full $1.9 billion funding request.
The House on Tuesday voted to pass a bill that was recently renamed the “Zika Vector Control Act.” The bill would expedite the use of pesticides in areas with high mosquito populations.
The bill originally focused on dealing with Environmental Protection Agency overregulation, but Republicans have rebranded it to say it could also fight the Zika virus.
“This legislation … will remove duplicative government regulations that are standing in the way and will allow local governments to intercede and prevent an outbreak before it’s too late,” said Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C.
President Obama has issued a veto threat on the legislation, saying that localities already have the authority to apply insecticides as needed. The White House said the bill would “weaken environmental regulations.”
