An emerging bipartisan Senate deal that would provide $1.1 billion to combat the Zika virus has run into new resistance from House Republicans, and won’t advance before lawmakers leave town this week, GOP leaders said Tuesday.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a chief Senate negotiator, said he has talked to his Republican counterparts across the Capitol Tuesday, and reported back that they do not support the Senate deal under negotiation between Blunt, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and the Democrats.
“I think the House is not where we are yet in terms of dealing with this issue, and I’d like to see them get a little further along,” said Blunt, who is the former House Majority Leader.
As a result, it’s very unlikely a Zika funding bill will make it to the floor for consideration this week, Blunt said.
If that proves accurate, it will mean a significant delay for the bill. Both the House and Senate will leave town on Friday and won’t return until the week of May 9.
It’s a delay that won’t sit well with the White House. Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan and National Security Advisor Susan Rice sent a letter Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., urging them to take up the president’s $1.9 million request and warning that 900 Americans have been diagnosed with Zika.
But House Republicans have resisted efforts to draft emergency spending legislation to fund a federal response to Zika. Instead, the House directed the Obama administration to use $590 million left over from efforts to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.
GOP lawmakers say they want administration officials to provide more detailed information about why the money is needed, and specifically how they plan to spend it.
“I think a little more input from the administration will be helpful, too, about more specifics, about their timeline on how to spend money,” Blunt said.
White House officials have told the Examiner they included those details in their $1.9 billion funding request, which was sent in a letter to House and Senate lawmakers in February. On Tuesday, White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said lawmakers who have questions about the funding have had “ample opportunity” to ask them.
But House Republican lawmakers have sent several letters to the White House with questions about the funding. According to a GOP aide, appropriators have “received responses, but they have been incomplete or have ignored our questions.”
Blunt suggested both lawmakers and the administration were to blame for the lack of information.
“Part of that is them answering the questions and part of that is us being able to ask the right questions, and bring everybody along here as much as we can at the same time,” Blunt said.
Among the questions, Blunt said, is whether the redirected $590 million can carry the federal government’s Zika fighting effort through September, which is the end of the fiscal year.
“Is there enough money to go to the end of September is one question,” Blunt said. “But if there is enough money and we’re going to have to supplement that anyhow, does that mean we should wait until the end of September? More specifics from the administration would be helpful.”
The slowdown suggests Senate Republicans are earnestly trying to advance spending legislation. Passing a bill to the liking of Senate lawmakers that cannot pass the House will never end up on President Obama’s desk.
Such a scenario is not the intent, Blunt said.
“Ideally, whatever Senate action is taken is taken with consideration of what the House can do to actually sent the bill forward,” Blunt said.
Democrats have stepped up pressure on the GOP-led House and Senate to quickly provide emergency spending for Zika, which has been linked to severe birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
House Democrats on Monday introduced a $1.9 billion supplemental spending bill.
In the Senate, Democrats criticized the GOP for not moving more swiftly and blaming the party’s far right faction for holding up progress.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate should not go out of session for a recess next week if the Zika bill hasn’t passed.
“If they refuse to come up with a plan to help, we’re going to continue to push as hard as we can,” Reid said.
Read OMB’s letter to Ryan on Zika here:
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