Who’s to blame for lack of Zika funding? 50% of Floridians say Congress

Ask Floridians who’s to blame for the lack of federal funding for Zika, and the answer is clear: Congress.

A new survey from Public Policy Polling found 50 percent of Floridians said Congress was to blame for the lack of funding to combat Zika. The findings were released just one day after the Senate rejected a $1.1 billion funding proposal.

Senate Democrats once again blocked the measure, which included provisions that would have restricted funding for Planned Parenthood. It marked the third time the Senate voted on — and rejected — the measure.

“Let’s stop this monkey business,” said Sen. Bill Nelson in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Let’s stop these political games. Let’s stop these political riders. Let’s do what the Senate did three months ago when it passed — bipartisan by 69 votes — $ 1.1 billion in emergency funding, and send it down to the House and tell the House to stop playing these games.”

Floridians appear to agree lawmakers should pass a clean Zika funding bill. The vast majority of respondents, 80 percent, said they supported passing a clean bill to fund efforts to combat the spread of Zika.

There were 713 cases of Zika in Florida as of Tuesday. According to the Florida Department of Health, 80 of those cases involved pregnant women and 56 cases were locally transmitted. The remainder of the cases were travel-related.

“My message to both parties and both chambers for this month is simple and straightforward: Zika is not a game. And if you think it is, then you should take your game somewhere else. This issue is about human beings, not political chess pieces, and we have a duty to solve it,” said Sen. Marco Rubio in a statement on the Senate floor Tuesday. “It won’t stop until Congress does what is necessary to respond to this public health crisis. Enough waiting. Enough games. Congress needs to act and it needs to act now.”

Public Policy Polling surveyed 744 likely voters between Sept. 4 and Sept. 6. The survey had a margin of error of 3.6 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.