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Democrats Try To Play Politics With Zika, And It Backfires

Democrats blocked a $1.1 billion bill to fight the Zika virus because it wouldn't have let Planned Parenthood gets its hands on any of the money. (Aaron Sprecher/EPA/Newscom)

Public Health: So let's get this straight. The Senate votes to approve a $1.1 billion bill to fight Zika by a 52 to 48 margin. But since the Democrats filibustered the bill, that wasn't enough to get it to the floor for a vote. And we're supposed to believe this is the Republicans' fault?

"It's a mockery of how Congress should treat an emergency," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., complained Wednesday.

Reid is certainly right about that. The emergency funds are supposed to go to help develop a vaccine, provide mosquito control and fund other Zika prevention efforts before the virus spreads into the U.S.

The amount of money wasn't the issue. Although it was less than the White House request, Democrats were content with the $1.1 billion price tag. What they couldn't stomach were the "poison pills."

On Monday, Reid called the bill "nothing more than a goodie bag for the fringes of the Republican Party. It's like we're being dared to oppose this legislation," Reid said. "We have no choice."

Really? So just what, exactly, were these "poison pills"?

Well, one had to do with a provision that wasn't in the bill involving a ban on displays of the Confederate flag. Another was a beef over a provision that would have loosened EPA restrictions on some pesticides -- pesticides that would be used to help kill Zika-carrying mosquitoes.

In other words, nothing that would even remotely justify blocking this bill.

The Democrats real complaint was that Planned Parenthood wouldn't be able to get its hands on a small portion of the funds -- less than 9% -- that is directed instead to public health departments, hospitals and entities that are reimbursed by public health plans.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said that, because of this, the Republican bill "limits access to birth control services needed to help curb the spread of the virus and prevent terrible birth defects. This is not a serious solution."

Democrats no doubt were counting on the mainstream press to help pin the blame on the GOP for the bill's demise. But even the liberal media had a hard time swallowing this line.

Politifact, a reliably liberal fact-checking site run by the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald, could only bring itself to rate Nelson's claim "half true," noting that while the bill didn't provide Planned Parenthood with additional federal money, it did provide funds to public health clinics that offer birth control services.

News headlines, too, suggest the press wasn't buying the Democrats' spin. A sampling:

  • CNN: "Democrats block $1.1 billion Zika bill"
  • NBC News: "Senate Democrats Block GOP's Zika Funding Bill"
  • CBS News: "Senate Dems block Zika funding"
  • New York Times: "Zika Bill Is Blocked by Senate Democrats Upset Over Provisions"

We said that Sen. Reid was right to say that Congress has made a "mockery" of this crisis. But come to think of it, that's being too kind.

It's more accurate to say that what Reid and his fellow Democrats have done in the face of the Zika crisis borders on the criminal.