Congressional Republicans are “grasping at straws” as they try to explain why they won’t act on the administration’s $1.89 billion request to combat the Zika virus, White House spokesman Josh Earnest argued Friday.
Their complaint that the administration has not fully explained how it would spend the money “doesn’t pass the smell test,” Earnest said after noting that government health officials and senior administration officials have testified several times before congressional committees about the funding request.
The issue has come up in 48 hearings in all, Earnest said. “There’s ample information that has been shared,” he said.
Earnest accused Republicans of not taking advantage of those opportunities, and said they “didn’t do their homework.”
“They’ve had ample opportunity to collect information, to ask questions of senior administration officials, to read letters, to read the legislative proposal that was put forward by the administration,” he said. “But Republicans haven’t done it.”
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said it’s not enough.
“The information we are seeking doesn’t require hearings,” Rogers said in a statement. “It requires thorough, detailed budget documentation that can be the basis for the responsible spending of taxpayer dollars.”
Earnest said he doesn’t understand why, two months after the administration’s request and with summer fast approaching, Republicans haven’t approved the money the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and others say the country needs to combat the mosquito-born virus.
“I don’t know if it’s they are concerned about the reaction from the extreme right-wing base of their party about additional government funding,” Earnest said. “I don’t know if it’s the need that Republicans feel to reflexively oppose everything that President Obama suggests.”
In his statement, Rogers denied politics is part of the equation.
“This isn’t about politics or optics or finger pointing,” he stated. “This is about a very real crisis that needs our genuine attention. As I’ve said many times, including directly to the president, we want to be partners in the fight to stop this terrible disease before it spreads even further.”
“Every day counts in the fight against Zika, and so does every penny we spend. We must ensure that we are using every dollar the right way and at the right time, to save lives and to prevent Zika from becoming an epidemic within our borders.”
