Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ripped Republicans over a stalemate over funding to combat the Zika virus Tuesday, the latest sign the issue will likely be punted into the fall.
“It’s clear that the Republican leader [Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell] has been stringing us along. He never had any intention of coming back to the negotiating table,” Reid said from the Senate floor. “Republicans have no desire to work with us … now, or any time in the future. It’s all been a charade.”
{mosads}Reid’s comments came after Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and McConnell tried to resurrect dueling Zika funding proposals. Both were blocked for the second time this week.
McConnell is expected to try to pass the same legislation again, a deal with the House to provide $1.1 billion to fight the virus.
The Kentucky senator has said for weeks that the agreement is the only path to passing legislation this month.
With Democrats objecting to the agreement because of how it’s paid for and a provision blocking funding for Planned Parenthood, it’s expected to fail to get the 60 votes needed to move forward. Even if the Senate passed the measure, the White House says it would be vetoed.
Reid noted Tuesday that the administration had tried to set up a meeting for McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Shaun Donovan, the director of the Office and Management and Budget, but the Republican leaders declined.
McConnell told reporters Tuesday that he has spoken with Burwell and President Obama and told them that the conference report “is not amendable. What the Senate Democrats are trying to do will not achieve an outcome.”
Reid has also spoken with McConnell on separating the Zika funding bill from a larger veterans and military construction spending bill to move it as a stand-alone measure, but he said McConnell was noncommittal.
McConnell has repeatedly argued that re-passing the Senate’s bill — spearheaded by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) — is a nonstarter because it’s won’t pass the House.
House Republicans balked at the original Senate deal because it isn’t paid for. Lawmakers have only a few days to try to break the current stalemate on Zika funding before they leave Washington for a seven-week recess.
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