The Senate had one more vote on Zika funding, and once again it failed, because once again Mitch McConnell refused to eliminate myriad poison pills Republicans larded it up with in the House-Senate conference. Democrats blocked it because this bill would definitely do more harm than good. It's so bad, President Obama would have vetoed it had it passed.
Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Republicans are currently in a "logic-free zone."
"The Republicans are choosing vacation over protecting pregnant women and their babies from these terrible birth defects that can be prevented," he added from the Senate floor.
Democrats blasted Republicans earlier Thursday for leaving town without tackling a host of issues, including Zika spending, gun control and new money for preventing opioid overdoses.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) sent a letter to McConnell on Thursday asking him to delay the summer break until after they get an agreement on Zika funding.
“Attached to this bill are several highly-partisan provisions that make the entire measure unpassable in its current form — regardless of how many times the Senate is forced to vote on it,” he wrote in the letter. “This political gamesmanship has to end.”
This was the last vote of the week. The last vote of the month. The last vote of the summer. A summer that's going to be fraught for women in all the southern half of the U.S. where the Zika-carrying mosquitoes range.
Congress's seven-week break doesn't officially start until next week, but failing on Zika marks the unofficial beginning of their completely undeserved time off.