Nearly 200 days since President Obama requested emergency funding, Republicans waste time on bill that attacks women’s health
The Senate returned to Washington today after a seven-week vacation, and the Republicans’ first order of business was to once again play politics with a public health crisis.
Instead of passing a clean, bipartisan Zika funding bill to address the worsening crisis, Senate Republicans showed they have no interest in responsible governance and wasted time on a bill that is filled with poison pills.
The legislation brought up again by Republicans tonight would restrict funding for family planning services, despite the fact that the virus is most dangerous to pregnant women because of its potential to cause debilitating birth defects. The bill would also slash funding to the Ebola virus and cut VA funding by $500M while removing a bipartisan provision to ban Confederate flags from federal facilities.
“The Zika crisis has rapidly worsened in the seven weeks the Republican-led Senate was on vacation, but that still hasn’t motivated Republicans to provide the critically needed funding to fight the crisis,” said Lauren Passalacqua, DSCC National Press Secretary. “It’s been nearly 200 days since the President requested emergency funding, but the GOP women’s health poison pills in this bill are the equivalent of reducing access to storm shutters with a hurricane on the way – it defies common sense. Republicans’ brand of irresponsible governance is exactly what is wrong with Washington, and that’s why voters will elect a Democratic Senate that gets back to fighting for working families.”
