USA Today Editorial Board: Speaker Ryan, House GOP 'Dawdle' as Zika Spreads
June 1, 2016 – USA Today: Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez says he contracted Zika virus
June 1, 2016 – TWC News Austin: Doctors: A 100 Percent Chance Zika Comes to Texas
Speaker Ryan's Republican Chairman of the Appropriations Health and Human Services Subcommittee, Tom Cole, meanwhile simply tells Americans deeply concerned about the danger of Zika: "don't worry." But how can the American people not be troubled? This is why editorial boards across the country continue slamming Republicans in Congress for their obstruction and lack of seriousness to confronting the scary threat of Zika. From USA Today Editorial Board:
Congress fiddles, Zika spreads
You'd think if there's one thing Congress could reach rapid bipartisan agreement on, it's money to fight Zika.
But no, not this Congress. Members fled Washington last week for their Memorial Day break without approving funding to fight the mosquito-borne virus, even as Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that "speed is critical. A day, a week, a month can make all of the difference."
Is it any wonder that 78% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress handles its job?
…House Republicans are linking Zika funding to a measure easing the rules on pesticide spraying.
Since Zika shot to worldwide attention, the disease has spread explosively in South America and has hit Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, where more than 930 cases have been reported. As of last week, there were 591 cases in the continental USA, most acquired through travel and a few that were sexually transmitted.
While most people with the virus won't even know it, there is a terrible danger: A fetus infected with the Zika virus in the first trimester has up to a 13% risk of developing devastating birth defects.
As warmer weather makes mosquitoes more active in America, more people are in danger. Yet, Congress dawdles.
The amount the House approved, $622 million, would raid programs meant to battle the Ebola outbreak, even though continued U.S. spending is needed to produce a vaccine, prepare regional centers to respond, and keep this deadly infection at bay in poor, vulnerable African countries.
Congress' propensity to rush from crisis to crisis, and its inconsistent spending on public health, make each new disease an emergency. For example, spending for local surveillance of mosquito-borne illnesses, such as West Nile virus, was slashed 60% from 2004 to 2012. Now Zika puts pressure on overburdened localities.
…both chambers refuse to vote on Zika funding by itself…
Most cynically, House Republicans revived a 2011 measure that would allow more pesticide spraying near certain bodies of water. The Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act was renamed and passed as the Zika Vector Control Act.
Perhaps more spraying is a piece of the puzzle, but if you listen to experts such as Umair Shah, the head of Harris County (Texas) Public Health & Environmental Services, "we cannot spray our way out of this." Trapping and testing mosquitoes to find those carrying Zika, eliminating breeding grounds, and educating the public are the keys to control…
Our country keeps asking exactly what will it take for Speaker Ryan and his Republican Conference to act meaningfully and immediately.