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spanone

(135,844 posts) Sat Aug 6, 2016, 09:14 AM Aug 2016

Obama Tells Congress To ‘Do Its Job’ On Zika

WASHINGTON ― Saying the Zika threat is “getting critical,” President Barack Obama called on Congress Thursday to go back to work and pass the funding he has sought since February to combat the disease now spreading in Florida.

Lawmakers failed to pass any funding to deal with the mosquito-borne disease before they went on their seven-week break last month. Since then, at least 15 Americans have gotten infected in the Miami area.

“Congress needs to do its job,” Obama said in a news conference at the Pentagon. “Fighting Zika costs money.”

Obama originally asked for $1.9 billion to beef up preparedness, spur research on vaccines and diagnostic tools, and to help local agencies cope with the spread of the virus, especially in areas such as Puerto Rico.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-congress-zika_us_57a3ae20e4b021fd987813f4

The Zika bill that was in the works in Congress failed in mid-July after Republicans added a string of extraneous provisions, including restrictions on contraception, a pro-Confederate flag item, and cuts to Obamacare.

3 replies

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Obama Tells Congress To ‘Do Its Job’ On Zika (Original Post) spanone Aug 2016 OP

Secretary Clinton really should hammer this fact in campaign speeches! Cooley Hurd Aug 2016 #1

Meanwhile Florida Gov. Rick Scott's war on Planned Parenthood opens the door for a Zika emergency malaise Aug 2016 #2

They need a Laws Have To Be What The Law Is About Law Cresent City Kid Aug 2016 #3

Cooley Hurd

(26,877 posts)

1. Secretary Clinton really should hammer this fact in campaign speeches!

Reply to spanone (Original post)

Sat Aug 6, 2016, 09:21 AM

Aug 2016

Name the congresspeople BY NAME especially the ones up for reelection!

malaise

(269,057 posts)

2. Meanwhile Florida Gov. Rick Scott's war on Planned Parenthood opens the door for a Zika emergency

Reply to spanone (Original post)

Sat Aug 6, 2016, 09:28 AM

Aug 2016

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/8/5/1557094/-Florida-Gov-Rick-Scott-s-war-on-Planned-Parenthood-opens-the-door-for-a-Zika-emergency
<snip>
Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, and legislature have happily joined in on the War on Women and the war on Planned Parenthood, attempting to state funding to reproductive health clinics and diverting resources away from clinics that provide abortion. What does that mean when it comes to fighting a disease that kills and deforms unborn babies? A looming disaster.

"We haven't heard about any kits," says Laura Goodhue, a vice president at Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida. Planned Parenthood hasn't received any Zika kits from the Florida Department of Health, nor has it received any guidance from the department about how to serve pregnant women during a possible outbreak. […]

A big part of the defense against infection for women in Florida appears to be the Zika prevention kits and OB-GYN outreach, but the Scott administration's strategy is unclear. The Planned Parenthood affiliate operates three clinics in Miami-Dade County, which has the fourth-highest uninsured rate in the country, and another just over the border in Broward County. The women's health care organization serves tens of thousands of people per year, many of whom are low-income and without insurance—and more likely to get pregnant by accident. As Laura Goodhue notes, they have not received a single kit.

A spokesperson for Today's Women Medical Centers, which offers family planning, prenatal, and abortion services, also said her clinic has not heard from Gov. Scott's office or the state Department of Health about what help to offer women facing Zika. They also do not have CDC Zika prevention kits.

Florida is the first state to have confirmed cases of locally acquired Zika—meaning the mosquitoes that carry it are now in the state. That's enough for the CDC to issue a travel warning advising pregnant women to avoid the area of Miami where the mosquitoes have been found. So women who are pregnant or who might be pregnant are advised not to go there, but the women who live there are stuck. And their governor is more concerned with shutting down the clinics that provide what health care they do get than preventing this looming crisis.
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ReTHUGs are fucking idiots.

Cresent City Kid

(1,621 posts)

3. They need a Laws Have To Be What The Law Is About Law

Reply to spanone (Original post)

Sat Aug 6, 2016, 09:30 AM

Aug 2016

Or have Obama psych them out saying, "Whatever you do, do not fund efforts to fight zika!"

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