Remember last week when Democratic Representative John Lewis was leading a sit-in with hopes that some kind of common decency would compel House leadership to bring at least one piece of gun legislation up for a vote? As Republicans were desperately trying ways wrest back control of the House so they could shuffle out of town to start the most generous Fourth of July holiday in the nation, they pushed a bill through.
First they called a hilariously inaccurate voice vote, then they used the protest of that voice vote to trigger both a recorded vote an and automatic exit. So … what was that completely undiscussed bill? Lots of things. However, hidden inside it was the House, for the first time, actually responding to President Obama’s five month-old request for funding to combat the Zika virus.
So … hooray? Yeah, not quite.
The military construction and veterans’ spending bill forced through by House Republicans with no debate early Thursday morning contains $1.1 billion for Zika preparation and prevention — but it also contains some poison-pill provisions that are likely to drive off any Democratic support, notably one restricting the use of the money by Planned Parenthood.
Zika is a contagious disease. It affects unborn children. It can be transmitted sexually. What would be the worst possible thing to do? Well, cutting off funds to over 650 local health clinics that specifically deal with issues of pregnancy and women’s health is pretty high up on the list of Insanely Stupid.
But wait, this is headed to the conference committee. Surely the Senate will get out the red pen and send this back to the House with the Planned Parenthood cuts lined out. After all, we need to get this passed. It’s an urgent matter of public health. Or ...
Other provisions also appeared to be added by House and Senate Republicans, who negotiated the measure on their own, to essentially dare Democrats to oppose the overdue Zika money.
What’s saving the lives of women and their children when you can generate talking points about how you’re fighting to save the lives of women and children, but not actually doing a damn thing to make the situation better? There’s a word for this. It starts with ‘irresponsible.’ No, wait. It doesn’t. It starts with ‘evil.’