Funding to fight Zika remains stalled as first locally-transmitted case is reported in the continental U.S
DES MOINES, Iowa - Two months after Republicans in Congress voted against bills to fund Zika preparation measures, the Florida Department of Health reports that four cases of Zika infection are caused by local transmission, a first in the continental United States.
“There’s an epidemic of partisanship in Chuck Grassley’s Washington preventing us from stopping an epidemic of Zika virus,” said Patty Judge. “Foot-dragging on Zika funding is as sure a sign as any that too many decades in Washington have changed Senator Grassley, and not for the better. I couldn’t be more disappointed in Senator Grassley’s partisanship, more concerned about stopping the Zika threat, or more determined to help turn things around as Iowa’s new Senator. I urge the Senate to cut their record-long recess short and address this issue.”
Before the Republican-led Congress broke for its longest summer recess in history, Chuck Grassley and Senate Republicans played political games with Zika funding by attaching poison pill amendments irrelevant to fighting the disease, including restricting funding for critical women's health services. Earlier this year Chuck Grassley voted against funding efforts to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in the United States multiple times.
The Senate’s refusal to act on funding to combat Zika comes at a time when the Senate also has their lightest workload in 60 years.
“Fighting Zika should’ve been a priority long before it reached the United States. Unfortunately, Republicans like Chuck Grassley have been more interested in playing political games at the expense of Iowa families,” added Judge.
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