Mitch Perry
With health officials reporting there are now more than 400 travel-related cases of the Zika virus in Florida and 22 locally transmitted cases, Pinellas County Republican Rep. David Jolly has become the latest Florida lawmaker calling on Congress to return to Washington to pass a bill to fund the growing health crisis.
“With Congress not scheduled to return to Washington, D.C. for nearly four weeks, I support calls for an emergency session to address this health issue and quickly reach a bicameral, bipartisan consensus package that can be enacted into law immediately,” Jolly wrote on his Facebook page Thursday.
In making his request, Jolly joins a growing list of Republicans and Democrats in the Florida congressional delegation who have been calling on lawmakers to return to the nation’s capital to address the issue. Gov. Rick Scott also called on Congress to return to D.C. to pass a bill earlier this week, and Charlie Crist, who Jolly will likely be running against in November, called on House Speaker Paul Ryan to not allow Congress to recess back on July 14th without passing a Zika bill.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting one of the 22 Zika cases that health officials in the Wynwood area of Miami are dealing with is the first known pregnant woman likely infected in the U.S. by a mosquito bite, rather than from travel or sexual intercourse. The Florida Department of Health says it has identified 18 positive cases so far from the Wynwood area.
“In recent weeks, we have worked through some of the concerns with the president’s proposal, and while I still prefer a package introduced by both U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, the debate has gone on too long. We cannot let our differences lead us to inaction, “Jolly writes.
House Speaker Ryan would be the man to call the House of Representatives back to Washington to approve a package, but he tweeted last week that “Here’s the #Verified truth: the #Zika crisis has been hijacked by #Democrats for political gain.”
Here’s the #Verified truth: the #Zika crisis has been hijacked by #Democrats for political gain. https://t.co/IDfjmHOBZd
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 5, 2016
In Miami Wednesday, Hillary Clinton called on Republicans to “pass the the bipartisan bill in the Senate or come up with a new compromise that does the same.”
House Republicans did vote to approve a Zika funding bill in May, but the White House vowed to veto it and Democrats opposed the measure because it pulled about half of the $622 million in the bill from efforts to fight Ebola.
In June, Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have provided $1.1 billion in funding to fight Zika, accusing Republicans of filling the bill with unrelated and politically charged provisions like restrictions on Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization.
Democrats have since pushed for a “clean” Zika funding bill, but Republicans have accused them of not being willing to pass the two measures they proposed.
