While Making Time for Fundraisers, Blunt Absent as Republicans Added Shameful Partisan Provisions to Public Health Bill
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: “Irresponsibly, Blunt didn’t craft a bill that could pass.”
After weeks of bragging about his “leadership” role on Zika, Roy Blunt is now doing everything in his power to distance himself from the failed sham final bill that politicized the public health crisis. But Missouri isn’t buying his excuses.
As The Kansas City Star revealed on Wednesday, despite being a key member of the group meant to draft the final Zika bill, Blunt admitted he was absent for the final negotiations last Wednesday, instead making time to attend two fundraisers on the very day those negotiations took place.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was quick to call Blunt out for his failures on the Zika bill. In an editorial yesterday, the paper noted:
Just when you thought congressional misfeasance couldn’t get any worse, along comes political gamesmanship to sink funding to fight a public health menace.
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But the request had Obama’s name on it, and there is no issue too urgent — not even babies with birth defects — that it can divert GOP lawmakers from their primary target. The president’s $1.6 billion request was cut in half in the House and by $500 million in the Senate. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that handles health agency budgets, acted responsibly enough in crafting a $1.1 billion compromise that the CDC said it could live with. Irresponsibly, Blunt didn’t craft a bill that could pass.
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Shame is not a strong enough word.
“Like a typical Washington politician, Roy Blunt tried to blame others and defer accountability for his failure on a Zika bill he had bragged about for weeks. But his absence during the final Zika negotiations while making time for fundraisers is simply inexcusable,” said DSCC spokesperson Sam Lau. “His failed leadership on Zika has just exposed once again that Blunt will always prioritize the needs of his DC lobbyist supporters over his obligations to serve the people of Missouri.”
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