The Senate returned to action Tuesday night, voting on the Zika "funding" bill the House had sent over. It’s a bill that does not fund Zika prevention at the level the the agencies fighting the disease say they require, that includes preventing any of the funds from going to Planned Parenthood, that would allow the Confederate flag in veterans' cemeteries, makes cuts to Obamacare, and would gut rules protecting our water supply. And here's how The New York Times reports it, under the headline "Senate Democrats Block Zika Bill Over Planned Parenthood Provisions":
WASHINGTON — As Congress returned from a seven-week recess on Tuesday, Senate Democrats again stymied a $1.1 billion plan to fight the Zika virus, demanding that Republicans drop an effort to block Planned Parenthood from receiving money to combat the mosquito-borne disease.
Democrats, who had essentially blocked the same legislation in late June, had enough votes Tuesday to prevent Congress from moving emergency funding public health experts say is desperately needed as they prepare for the possibility that Zika will spread to other states along the gulf coast. The vote was 52 to 46, and Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the bill.
The administration—advised by the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health—says it needs $1.9 billion to adequately fight Zika. Senate Democrats had already agreed to $1.1 billion since Republicans outright refused the administration's request. They won't bend so far as to accept the other hyper-partisan crap Republicans threw in just to try to force a fight with Democrats, as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid makes clear:
"Republicans were more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood and flying the Confederate flag. Can't make that stuff up—that's really the truth—than protecting women and babies from this awful virus," Reid said from the floor.
Democrats did not "block" this bad bill over a Planned Parenthood fight. Republicans created a Frankenstein measure loaded down with bombs precisely to make Democrats balk, and to con the traditional media into writing the kinds of headlines that the Times just provided them. Good job, NYT. You fell for it.
Can you pitch in $1 today to each of our Democratic Senate challengers?