Obama pushes Congress to approve Zika money before summer recess

President Obama on Friday called on Congress not to leave for summer recess until it approves funding to fight the Zika virus. 

{mosads}”Congress should not leave, should not adjourn, until they have this done,” Obama said after receiving a briefing from health officials. 

Congress is scheduled to leave in mid-July and not return until September, and the fate of any new funding to fight the mosquito-borne virus is seriously in doubt. 

Lawmakers have descended into finger-pointing over the funds. Senate Democrats blocked a GOP funding bill on Tuesday due to a range of extraneous provisions added by Republicans, such as limiting Planned Parenthood funding and loosening environmental regulations. 

Democrats have called on the GOP to negotiate a bipartisan bill, but Republicans have so far refused. 

Obama criticized a “bunch of unrelated topics” being added to the Zika funding. “It’s been politics as usual rather than responding smartly to a very serious public health request,” he said. 

Obama was briefed in the Oval Office by Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of infectious disease research at the National Institutes of Health. 

Fauci warned earlier in the week that research on a Zika vaccine could halt without new funding. 

“We feel fairly confident that we can develop a effective vaccine for Zika,” Obama said. “And that would help a whole lot of people and allow us to get out in front of this problem before it’s in the continental United States. But that requires research money.”

The Zika virus is expected to hit the Southern United States and has been linked to severe birth defects.

This story was updated at 12:15 p.m.