WASHINGTON _ A bipartisan battalion of political leaders from South Florida, Tallahassee and beyond converged on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in an all-out blitz for Zika prevention and research funds.
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida and a half-dozen House of Representatives members from across the Sunshine State appeared at a crowded news conference where they pleaded for Congress to approve $1.1 billion in Zika money after a seven-month impasse over partisan politics.
The full-court press came as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the top Senate Democrat, cast doubt on assertions that a deal had been reached.
"We're continuing on trying to reach an overall agreement," the Kentucky Republican leader said.
"We still don't have an offer in writing from Republicans," Reid said.
Rep. Curt Clawson, a Florida Republican, became emotional as he criticized lawmakers for having failed to pass at least part of the $1.9 billion Zika package President Barack Obama sent Congress in February.
"I'm a conservative Republican," Clawson said. "I support my party. We can't spend $1 billion or $2 billion for babies? Where are our priorities? This is a big moment in the history of Florida."
Clawson added: "By God, if there's one moment that government ought to act and do something, this is the moment. I want to sleep at night knowing I've done everything possible."
In an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., cited Zika cases in Florida and Puerto Rico in calling for congressional action. He accused Republicans of trying "to cut corners on the funding, which will cost us money in the long term." But he also accused Democrats of "inventing excuses, just making it up, in order to oppose it and to do so for political reasons."
Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat who organized the briefing, said microcephaly, which causes abnormally small brains and heads in newborns, and other birth defects were dire effects of Zika that must be urgently addressed.
"We're talking about the brain of an unborn child," Wilson said. "Even scientists are saying they don't know what will happen to the adult brain. Can you really put a price tag on combating this?"
After arriving in Washington to meet with members of the Florida delegation, Gov. Rick Scott called for an end to the political posturing that has stalled Zika funding.
"I'm here because I think the time for politics is over," Scott told reporters. "We have nearly 800 cases of people who've been tested positive for Zika. We've got 86 pregnant women who've been tested positive for Zika. We have 64 non-travel-related cases in our state."
With the virus having hit Florida harder than any other state, Scott rejected Miami Herald reporting over the weekend that Florida health officials have undercounted the number of Zika cases and withheld information from the public.
Calling the reports "sort of laughable," Scott said: "We have been transparent. We have been timely. We have a good process to get information out. We have done whatever we can to make sure people understand what's going on. We have been working with county health departments and whoever's responsible for mosquito control to make sure that we follow CDC guidelines. So we have done a lot."
Scott, however, criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying those agencies have been slow to respond to his requests for help fighting Zika.
"The CDC, the Obama administration, has not been a good partner," he said. "It's been almost a month. I've been asking for 10,000 Zika-prevention kits for pregnant women. They don't give them to me. Since June 1, I've asked for a plan to work with FEMA. They haven't given it to me."
The Senate approved a $1.1 billion Zika bill in May. That was less than Obama had requested, but more than the $622 million provided in a separate House measure.
Partisan politics intervened when the two chambers appointed a conference committee to produce unified legislation, and the funding languished over the summer.
Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat who lost his primary bid to run for the Senate, said the amount of money sought by Obama to fight Zika paled in comparison with defense spending.
"He's asking for $1.9 billion," Grayson said. "That's what we spend on the U.S. military every single day. At this particular point in time, Zika is a far bigger threat to Floridians than the Islamic State."
Despite the bipartisan push for Zika funding, Grayson took a shot at Scott's handling of the health crisis.
"We appreciate the governor being here, but the governor should reverse some of the damage he's already done _ a 40 percent cut in mosquito control (funding) and zeroing out the budget for our own (state) research."
