With the money the Obama administration scraped together from other funds to fight Zika nearly exhausted, and the fight against the disease ramping up, Democratic senators are adding their voices to the request by Tim Kaine (D-VA) that the Senate come back from recess and conduct an emergency session. And it’s getting pretty close to unanimous.
More than 40 Senate Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday, pushing the two top Republicans to reconvene Congress so lawmakers can pass funding to deal with the Zika virus. ...
“In the case of the rapidly expanding Zika crisis, the problem has grown significantly worse since the Republican-led Congress went on recess,” the Democrats wrote to the GOP leaders. “We urge you to immediately cancel the remainder of the congressional recess and get back to work to help the American public, especially women and families, amidst this crisis.”
Senators are busily fundraising and campaigning in their home states. So running back to DC now represents genuinely setting aside politics for the national good.
Which helps explain why some people are not in any hurry.
But McConnell has signaled he is in no rush to return. Writing in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader on Monday, he criticized Democrats for balking at passing the bill. He said they'll get another chance after Labor Day when Congress is back in session.
The bill McConnell is talking about would be the one that cut off funding for women’s health in Puerto Rico, where hundreds of pregnant women have already tested positive for the disease. And, of course, the bill contained the obligatory attempt to cripple the Affordable Care Act.
Content that they haven’t done a damn thing to save a single American life, but have secured a neat talking point to rile Republican audiences, McConnell and associates are ready to ride out the summer, watch the numbers from the CDC rise, and smile.