‘The Politics of Zika Are Garbage’
U.S. Congressman David Jolly (R-FL) Wednesday morning stood on the House floor holding a clear jar filled with 100 mosquitoes from his home state of Florida. Jolly lambasted his fellow Congressmen and  Congresswomen for playing politics with the Zika funding bill, which the Senate for the third time failed to pass Tuesday night.
“I rise with 100 mosquitoes straight from Florida,” Jolly told his colleagues. “Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, capable of carrying the Zika virus,” he informed them.
“This is the reason for the urgency. This is the reason for the fear.”
“They are not active carriers,” he assured them. “But they could be.”
“The politics of Zika have gone on far too long. The politics of Zika are wrong,” he continued, blasting President Obama for wanting to fund protections against Zika for two years instead of one.
“People are scared,” Jolly added, explaining that cases of Zika have quadrupled during the House’s seven week summer recess, which happens to be the longest recess in modern times.
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“Can you imagine, colleagues, the fear in this chamber if these mosquitoes were outside this jar and not inside this jar?,” he asked. “Members of Congress would run down the hall to the physician’s office to be tested.”
“This is the fear of Floridians, right here,” Jolly said. “The politics of Zika are garbage.”
Jolly neglected to note that the Senate bill failed because Republicans in the House attached provisions to it to cut funding from Planned Parenthood, which actually is a valuable partner in the fight against Zika. House Republicans also attached provisions to ensure the Confederate flag could be flown in veterans’ cemeteries.Â
Mashable notes the “$1.1 billion Zika bill would provide funding to help local governments control mosquito populations and, most importantly, support researchers who are studying the virus and developing potential vaccines.”
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