Editorial Boards to House GOP: Do Your Job on Zika
Editorial boards across the country are echoing House Democrats' message to the Republican Congress: do your job to keep the American people safe.
Bloomberg Editorial: Congress Has No Good Reason to Delay Zika Funding
More than two months after the White House asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion to fight the Zika virus, Congress has yet to provide it. President Barack Obama, Republicans claim, has failed to explain in sufficient detail how his administration would spend the money.
Perhaps his 25-page proposal, sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan in February, got lost in interoffice mail. If so, no worries: There's also a summary on the Web. Most of the money -- about $1.5 billion -- will go to the Department of Health and Human Services to help states control the mosquito that carries the virus, expand programs to test for it, and work on developing a vaccine…
The case for action now is overwhelming…Whatever the explanation for Republicans' truculence -- and opposition among some factions of the party to any new spending undoubtedly factors into it -- it's a delay that could endanger lives. There have already been 891 cases of Zika in the U.S., including 81 pregnant women. Republicans need to move, and quick.
Washington Post Editorial: The GOP Congress must stop hurting the Zika fight
The Republican-controlled Congress has wasted entirely too much time sitting on President Obama's request for emergency funding to combat the arrival of the Zika virus to the mainland United States. The National Governors Association, not exactly an alarmist group, declared that "the nation is on the threshold of a public health emergency." Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory where the virus is already on the move, "is on the precipice of a really serious disaster." Now that Congress has returned from its recess, it is time to buckle down and approve the president's request for about $1.9 billion in emergency funding, or something close to it…
The time to prepare for the onslaught of virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes was yesterday — and yet Congress has stalled the president's February funding request. The House Appropriations Committee chairman, Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), has claimed the proposal lacked enough specifics. Here are some specifics: In Puerto Rico, where 631 cases of Zika have already been recorded, the virus is spreading rapidly from direct transmission. Although all 472 cases in the continental United States have come from travelers, Florida, the Gulf Coast and California also may be vulnerable to local transmission once the weather warms…
It is long past time for Congress to deliver the money needed to fight a virus that, if unchecked, could ruin thousands of young lives.
New York Times Editorial: On Zika, Congress Is Failing to Do Its Job
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has concluded that the Zika virus causes brain damage in babies born to infected women, which adds to the growing evidence that the virus is a major public health emergency. Yet Republicans in Congress are refusing to appropriate the money needed to respond to this crisis…
President Obama asked Congress in February for more than $1.8 billion to fight Zika, but Republican lawmakers refused to act and said the government should use money that had been appropriated for other diseases, like Ebola. They have also made vague promises to provide more funds before the next fiscal year begins in October…After weeks of fruitless talks with Congress, the administration said last week that it would shift nearly $600 million to anti-Zika efforts from Ebola and other programs. That is not sufficient and could increase the risk of another outbreak of Ebola, which remains a persistent threat.
Having learned from its slow response to Ebola, the Obama administration is trying to move faster against Zika. But if Congress doesn't do its job, the public will be put at needless risk.
Boston Globe Editorial: Funding to fight Zika virus shouldn't wait
One doesn't have to look far to find examples of Congressional dysfunction. But Congress' inability to fully fund a coordinated response to the Zika virus stands alone because of the seemingly blatant disregard for public health involved. With mosquito season just around the corner, it's hard to see the delay on Capitol Hill as anything other than irresponsible. Congress must treat Zika as a health emergency and fully fund the Obama administration's $1.9 billion proposal to combat it…
Astoundingly, Congress has taken three months to weigh the proper funding levels even as the virus has wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and Central America. In Puerto Rico alone there's been close to 700 cases. The stalling at Capitol Hill has meant the Obama administration had to reach into a fund devoted to Ebola for its initial Zika response…
Congress should approve Zika funding before leaving for another recess. "Fulfilling half of the president's request is at most a paltry Band-Aid," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada last week. Indeed, only a prompt, focused, and fully committed response will prevent the virus from doing the kind of damage it's already doing to mothers, babies, and others in nearby nations and Puerto Rico.
Chicago Tribune Editorial: The long, hot summer of Zika
President Barack Obama asked Congress to set aside $1.9 billion to better respond to the virus abroad and prepare for it here. He said the money was necessary to halt the spread of the disease and "protect the health and safety of Americans." That was in February. The response? So far, nothing. Full, screeching halt.
Congress has refused to approve the request… Senate negotiators recently said they were close to a deal to provide at least $1.1 billion in emergency financing to battle the rapidly spreading virus. But House Republicans were still stalling. Maybe they'll be convinced when the mosquitoes start biting on the Potomac, when mothers and babies start suffering.
The more scientists learn about Zika, the worse the news gets for the next generation…
The new information about Zika should weigh heavily on Congress when it decides whether to allocate $1.9 billion in emergency funding, as requested by the CDC and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Lawmakers balked when President Obama first asked for the money in February. But that was before we understood just how insidious this seemingly mild-mannered flavivirus can be.
Seattle Times Editorial: It's time for Congress to step up and stop the spread of Zika virus
CONGRESS must act quickly to help stop the spread of the Zika virus… Lawmakers should grant President Obama's $1.9 billion emergency funding request to control Zika-carrying mosquitoes, develop a vaccine and assist countries dealing with much higher rates of infection.
Every member of Congress should be focused on protecting women and infants from the horrible effects of the Zika virus.
Washington Post Editorial: We must zap Zika before it's too late
…For two months, the Republican-controlled House and Senate have not acted. Further delay will degrade preparedness for a virus that carries a greater punch than was first believed…
What will members of Congress tell those mothers and children in the United States who become victims of Zika this year and next year because resources were not committed to preparing for the virus? That there were "unanswered questions" in the paperwork? How lame, and irresponsible.
Lexington Herald-Leader Editorial: Republicans should act on Zika threat
… the Republicans who control Congress — prominent among them, Kentuckians Hal Rogers in the key role of House Appropriations chairman and Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate — have responded to the Zika threat by doing nothing — except blame the White House…
…still, the Republicans in Congress are dragging their feet, doing nothing. They would rather expose their constituents to a birth defect-causing disease for which there is no vaccine or reliable diagnostic test than approve new spending or give Obama anything resembling a win. It's unbelievable.
…the Republicans should get over themselves and act as if they know what "emergency" and "immediate action" mean.
Miami Herald Editorial: Where's Congress on Zika? Nowhere!
More than 100 days after the first cases of Zika were reported in Florida, leaders of Congress stubbornly continue to turn a deaf ear to pleas for additional federal funding. The indifference shown by lawmakers in the face of an identifiable health threat is both impossible to ignore and hard to fathom.
President Obama wants $1.9 billion in emergency funding to fight Zika… Yet Congress has resisted this plea for help since February, when President Obama first sought emergency aid.
By last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 472 cases in the continental United States. That's in addition to 629 cases in Puerto Rico, where the first known death from Zika recently was documented.
And still Republican leaders in Congress, such as Texas Sen. John Cornyn, scoff at the concerns about Zika as "overblown." He said Zika-aid supporters are asking for a blank check. Not so, senator. Money is needed to pay for mosquito-control efforts, scientific research into the disease and the development of a vaccine, medical care for those infected and educational materials for the public…
Congressional leaders should pay attention. The Zika virus represents a genuine health emergency. Florida and other targeted states need help. This is a time to act, not a time for partisan politics.
Tampa Bay Times Editorial: Prevention, federal cash key to fighting Zika
…U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, and several bay area health experts gathered in a Tampa back yard last week to address public health concerns about Zika. The group focused on pregnant women or those who might be thinking about getting pregnant during the summer. Health officials have found that Zika is linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that results in a small head size that could interfere with brain development…
…a silly fight over funding for prevention efforts has broken out in Congress over President Barack Obama's $1.9 billion request to combat Zika in the United States. A request to respond to a public health emergency should not be mired in partisan politics. Lawmakers should re-examine their priorities and put the health of Americans above partisan budget battles.
Palm Beach Post Editorial: State, local health officials need funding to combat virus
We're several months in since the first alarm bells went off about the mosquito-borne Zika virus possibly making its way here… We're about three months removed from Gov. Rick Scott taking the appropriate action of declaring a health emergency when the first reports of the frightening disease surfaced in Florida.
That was about the same time that President Barack Obama rightly asked Congress for $1.9 billion to battle the outbreak here, and in Central and Latin America.
We're still waiting for Congress to take action.
This is not a time for partisan politics…House conservatives are resisting new spending and have raised questions about Obama's plan for fighting the virus. People have died. Pregnant women are infected. Time for Congress to act.
Orlando Sentinel Editorial: Don't play politics in Zika fight
…there should be no patience with partisan brinkmanship when public health is at stake.
It's been nearly two months since Obama formally requested that Congress appropriate $1.9 billion to fight the Zika virus. At the time, there were about 50 confirmed cases in the United States of the illness, which has been linked in Latin America to severe birth defects in infants whose mothers were infected during pregnancy.
Congress' GOP leaders have refused to approve that request. Meanwhile, the number of U.S. cases has climbed…
Austin-American Statesman: Congress should approve Zika funding
Congressional Republicans have refused to deliver the money, offering poor excuses for their delay. They are squandering an opportunity to prepare for Zika's arrival in the United States.
According to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 631 Zika cases have been reported in Puerto Rico, an American territory. Here on the U.S. mainland, 472 Zika cases have been reported, including 30 cases in Texas. Unlike Puerto Rico, where almost all the cases have been acquired locally — that is, transmitted by mosquitoes or through sexual contact — all of the cases diagnosed so far in the 50 states are related to travel abroad.
The Obama administration's Zika proposal is not void of specifics. There is some reasonable flexibility requested. The funding must allow the administration some flexibility to respond to what will certainly be a changing landscape as summer and mosquito season progress.
What is known is Republicans in Congress are wasting an opportunity to try to prevent and prepare for a possible health crisis. They should stop being irresponsible and should act before any more time is lost.
Whatever excuses members of the Republican-led U.S. Senate and House offer, the time is long past for protracted debate about funding to battle the mosquito-borne Zika virus. If lawmakers end this month without bold steps to protect Americans from such maladies as severe microcephaly — a condition that can be lethal to the unborn — then they have no business showing their faces back home and asking constituents for their votes in the fall.
And if they claim to be pro-life, their hesitance in this matter will prove their stances are rooted in political convenience, not sincere belief.
No less than the National Governors Association — a group heavily dominated by Republicans — stressed that much of the nation "is on the threshold of a public health emergency" and that lawmakers must act in concert to provide long-delayed funding to prevent outbreak of the virus in the United States. It added that Congress needs to act "as expeditiously as possible to ensure those funds are available to states, territories and the public at large."
Greensboro News & Record Editorial: Zika action needed
The headline word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week was "scary." "Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought," Anne Schuchat, the agency's deputy director, told the media. That's the Zika virus, which is inflicting terrible harm across Latin America and the Caribbean and possibly heading north.
Yet, the nation isn't prepared. For starters, if there are few labs that can test for the virus, more are needed soon. The White House called for $1.9 billion in funding, but congressional leaders signaled that additional money will have to wait until September — after the peak mosquito season.
This alarms the American Public Health Association. "There is no time for delay. Congress must act to approve adequate resources to address this public health threat without taking money from other important public health programs," its executive director, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., said in a news release.
Gainesville Sun Editorial: Prevention is key to combating Zika
Of course, preventing Zika's spread in the first place is the best way to avoid birth defects and other health problems connected to the virus. Mosquito-control efforts on the local level require the help of homeowners, while the federal government needs to properly fund prevention efforts as well as vaccine research.
It is inexcusable that congressional Republicans have for months blocked a $1.9 billion appropriation requested by President Obama for Zika programs.
AM New York Editorial: Federal government must do more to curb the spread of Zika
News about the Zika virus has been spreading quickly. So has fear…
Now the federal government must step up. The White House transferred $510 million allocated for Ebola to fight Zika, as demanded by Republican lawmakers, but the amount is insufficient. Congress should act on President Barack Obama's request for $1.9 billion for important research on a vaccine, among other needed initiatives.
Zika can be devastating for pregnant women and their babies. The urgency of our government response must match the urgency of the threat to our families.
Everett Herald Editorial: Fund fight against Zika, more
It takes little imagination to see the threat posed not only to public health but in the increased costs for prevention, care and treatment that could result from a significant outbreak of Zika in the United States.
Which is why the Obama administration earlier in the year requested up to $1.9 billion in emergency spending from Congress for programs that control the mosquitoes and fund research into potential vaccines and public education programs to limit transmission…That initial request was met with doubts and opposition among Republicans in Congress.
Moving funding through the House could be more difficult. Earlier this month, the Post wrote that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, told reporters that the government had "plenty of money," available to fight Zika and that an additional appropriation wasn't necessary… And as long as we're advocating for ounces of prevention against Zika and Ebola, let's recognize the value provided to public health and pocketbook by amply funding the work of state and local health departments.
Ocala Star Banner: Zika funding's senseless delay
With an average age of 57, members of Congress are unlikely to get pregnant — especially since a large majority of them are men. If they are bitten by a Zika-carrying mosquito, most of them won't face the dreadful risk of bearing a permanently damaged, microcephalic child…
The Obama administration asked for $1.9 billion in February for the health emergency, but key Republicans greeted the request with skepticism. As mosquito season kicks in — and the number of cases imported to Florida surpasses 110 — the dispute is still unresolved, with disagreements over the amount of funding.
Congress needs to recognize the urgency of the situation, stop the shameful foot-dragging and open the spigot — for the full $1.9 billion, preferably…
Youngstown Vindicator Editorial: Zika virus is becoming a public-health crisis in US
Last week, the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate refused to deal with the growing public-health emergency triggered by the Zika virus. Let there be no mistake: The virus is spreading through the United States and the territories.
Last February, the Obama administration asked Congress for $1.9 billion in emergency funds to develop a vaccine, top-flight diagnostic tests and rapid- response teams for any Zika clusters that are detected…
But Republicans in control of the Senate and House obviously don't share the administration's sense of urgency.
Republicans in Congress are putting the nation at risk by playing political games with the Obama administration's request for funding to fight the Zika virus.
The American people recognize that Congress is dysfunctional, but they will not sit idly by while the health of the nation is sacrificed at the altar of partisan politics.
The Columbian Editorial: Unite Against Zika
In February, President Obama requested $1.9 billion to fight Zika, a request that largely has gone ignored until now…It is the same kind of gridlock that has so poorly served the American public in recent years…
All this would require a fissure in the seemingly intractable blockade that is Washington politics. Republicans who control both the Senate and the House have been slow to respond to Obama's request, and calls to take funding from the Affordable Care Act amount to shameful political gamesmanship. In truth, responding to the Zika virus now would be a fiscally conservative approach; as Herrera Beutler wrote, "The lifetime cost of caring for each child born with microcephaly could exceed $10 million."