Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) is chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. The significance of that is that that's the subcommittee that's supposed to be considering President Obama's request for $1.9B in funding to combat Zika. It's not, which Blunt's challenger, Democrat Jason Kander, says is a big problem, particularly for Missouri.
“Despite overwhelming scientific evidence months ago that made it clear the Zika virus was going to be a danger to the U.S., and the very clear threat that it poses to pregnant women, Senator Blunt hasn’t moved fast enough to provide the funding necessary to take this seriously,” Jason said. “This isn’t a partisan issue, this is science and every moment Congress fails to act is one where we leave the American people vulnerable. There are already nearly 500 reported cases of the Zika virus and it is a threat to Missouri, so Congress has a responsibility to do its job immediately.”
In fact, there are at least two pregnant women in Missouri who have been diagnosed with Zika. But Blunt is taking a pretty lackadaisical attitude toward it all, saying that there wasn't a need for immediate funding since the administration had $600 million diverted from Ebola.
It's worth remembering here how Blunt reacted to Ebola two years ago. He was panicked enough over it in 2014 to call blocking people coming to the U.S. from countries with Ebola. But Zika is a whole different thing, he says, and "not particularly scary" to most people. So even though it kills babies, and at least two of his constituents who have it are pregnant, it's not worth getting worked up about.
You can bet if those women have deformed babies before the election, Blunt is going to try to blame it all on President Obama for not responding adequately to the threat.
Please donate $3 today to help Jason Kander get this guy out of the Senate.