Sen. Jeff Flake’s questions about how public health funds have been spent are not helpful to the debate over the Obama administration’s $1.89 billion emergency request to combat the Zika virus, White House spokesman Josh Earnest argued on Wednesday.

“I think it’s pretty pathetic when we’re facing a significant public health crisis … that you would see someone try to distract from a pretty important issue” like this, Earnest said when asked to comment about the Arizona Republican’s questions.