Fight for Zika money hampered by partisan squabbles

WASHINGTON — Turns out Zika is as much a political quagmire as it is a health crisis.

Finger-pointing and partisan backbiting abound on Capitol Hill, despite pleas from both sides of the aisle to take the politics out of efforts to combat the disease that has infected 805 Floridians and tarnished the state’s reputation as a tourist mecca.

Just this week alone:

*Democratic congressman Alan Grayson took GOP Gov. Rick Scott to task for once proposing massive cuts in the state’s mosquito control budget.

*Scott blasted the Obama administration for failing to give the state enough help to fight Zika, then accused Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of abandoning his constituents in voting against a controversial Zika bill last week.

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*Pro-choice group NARAL lashed Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for missing a bipartisan news conference on Zika to meet with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. The organization is running online ads to highlight the criticism.

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Floridians see the partisan squabbles holding up action on Zika as “one more example of a broken Washington,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. But she’s not surprised at the stalemate or the bickering.

“This issue is arising in the middle of a very contentious, competitive election,” she said. “And each party wants to take credit for the good and dis their opponent with the bad. That’s what we’ve seen happening on the Zika issue.”

Congressional leaders have reported some progress in reaching a $1.1 billion deal to fund anti-Zika efforts, including vaccine development, insect spraying and distribution of testing kits. If a compromise is reached, it’s likely to be attached to a broad spending bill lawmakers will be asked to vote on at the end of the month.

Earlier Zika legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress was blocked by Democrats who objected to unrelated provisions, including barriers to contraception, the display of the Confederate flag at national cemeteries and laxer environmental standards for pesticides. The deal being discussed would not include those.

Rubio and the Democrat running against him this year, Rep. Patrick Murphy, have spent weeks blaming each other for not doing enough to end the stalemate.

They both initially backed Obama’s request in February for $1.9 billion, though Rubio also has supported GOP measures that would have provided less money and included provisions Murphy and others found objectionable.

Wednesday, NARAL pounced on Rubio’s absence from the bipartisan press conference the day before, saying he was “putting his own political needs ahead of the needs of women and families in Florida.”

Rubio spokesman Olivia Perez-Cubas responded that Murphy “is the only candidate to have voted against every measure to fund Zika — once again putting himself and his political aspirations before Floridians.”

Rubio spent part of Tuesday and Wednesday meeting with Scott, who admonished the Obama administration for ignoring Florida.

“Since June 1, I’ve asked for a plan to work with (the Federal Emergency Management Agency). Haven’t given it to me,” the governor told reporters. “The White House has not been a good partner.”

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Administration officials pushed back against Scott’s allegations, detailing efforts they’ve made to help the state:

*A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team was recently dispatched to Florida to monitor Zika efforts.

*The Health and Human Services Department has provided more than $35 million that can be used for Zika-related activities. In August, Florida received materials for an additional 6,300 lab tests in addition to the 2,000 already provided. CDC also provided on-site technical consultation to Florida’s public health laboratories, enabling them to substantially increase testing capacity.

*FEMA officials have been in contact with the state to discuss the role the agency can play, though the White House said FEMA assistance may not be the best option for a mosquito-borne disease like Zika.

“This is why the president put forward a supplemental request in February, to ensure that states like Florida would have the resources they need to effectively response to Zika,” the White House spokesman said.

Grayson, the Democratic congressman from Orlando, said Scott should look in the mirror if there are fingers to be pointed.

Under the governor's watch, state aid to mosquito control programs around Florida in 2011 was sliced 40% — from $2.16 million to $1.29 million — and he vetoed a $500,000 grant that would have kept a state mosquito lab open in Panama City.

“If the governor would revisit those decisions, that would be a good start in itself," Grayson said.

McKinley P. Lewis, a spokesman for Scott, said the state has spent more than $13.2 million for mosquito prevention and control, including a 20-year-high investment of $2.8 million this year. He also said that this summer  the governor authorized more than $26 million in emergency state funds to combat Zika, including $5 million to Miami-Dade County for Zika preparedness and mosquito control.

Nelson was miffed that Scott singled him out for joining other Democrats in blocking the Zika bill.

“He should know better,” Nelson said. “This is a serious situation, not a time for partisan politics.”

Whom do voters blame? MacManus said the accusations have come in such rapid-fire, head-spinning fashion it's hard to decide who's the real culprit.

"There's enough blame to go around for all officials in the minds of Floridians," she said. "What they want is action, and there just doesn't appear to be any out of Washington. That's what they really find fault with."

Rubio tried to strike a bipartisan tone Wednesday afternoon as he spoke on the Senate floor. He defended Nelson as an important ally in the push for Zika funding, then implored his colleagues to rally around a compromise.

“We fight about so many things around here,” Rubio said. “We have so many issues we could have a debate over. So let’s have debates about those issues. But isn’t there at least, when it comes to public health and safety, something we can say on this issue that we’re not going to play politics?”