Yesterday, the House voted on the Zika Vector Control Act.
Did House Republicans suddenly decide that they care about investing in public health measures to combat the Zika virus? Of course not.
They just rebranded an old bill (the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2014) designed to deregulate pesticide use:
Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2014 which failed the House under suspension of the Rules on July 28, 2014. That vote can be found here. House Republicans then put the bill back on the Floor under a Rule on July 31, 2014 and it received even fewer Democratic votes. That vote can be found here. The underlying legislation would not help to contain the spread of Zika virus in any way; instead the bill would exempt pesticide spraying near bodies of water from regulation under an existing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general Clean Water Act permit through September 30, 2018. Nearly 2000 U.S. waterways are contaminated with pesticides, and H.R. 897 would worsen the problem. The existing Clean Water Act permit in no way hinders, delays, or prevents the use of approved pesticides for mosquito control in emergency situations. In fact, the permit provides a specific emergency provision to prevent outbreaks of disease, such as the Zika virus. Under the terms of the permit, pesticide applicators are covered automatically under the permit and any spraying may be performed immediately for any declared pest emergency situations. Instead of trying to deceive the American people by appearing to address the Zika virus while only hurting the environment, House Republicans should take action to provide sufficient emergency supplemental funding to combat the Zika virus and work with Democrats to keep Americans healthy and safe.
The vote was 262 to 159. The bill failed, as it was called up under suspension (2/3 would have been required).
239 Republicans and 23 Democrats voted for it. 159 Democrats voted against it.
Who are those 23 Democrats?
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
Lois Capps (CA-24)
John Carney (DE-AL)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
David Scott (GA-13)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
When the House voted on the bill two years ago, 37 Democrats voted for it. Much of the difference stems from conservative Democrats who lost their seats last election. However, 5 Democrats who voted for the bill last time now voted against it:
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Sam Farr (CA-20)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
