Congress seeks to break impasse over Zika funding

Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday reached for a way out of a months-long impasse over funding to combat the Zika virus, as the election-year standoff gets snared in a broader fight over how to keep the government running beyond this month.

In the Senate, both parties are working on a short-term bill that would fund operations through Dec. 9 at current spending levels — undercutting conservatives in the House, who wanted to see a bill last into the new administration next year.

“We think the Senate ought to be able to resolve the issues that confront us, and go forward,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But hurdles remain, including the chance that partisan flare-ups could sink the talks.

Indeed, both sides are still far apart in the stalemate over funds to combat Zika, a mosquito-borne disease that can cause birth defects.

House Republicans say any new Zika money should be offset and suggest tapping unspent Ebola money. Senate Democrats, who are filibustering a $1.1 billion Zika package right now, reject offsets and want the new money to be able to flow to Planned Parenthood.

As Capitol Hill gropes for a way forward, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say more than 2,700 travelers from the States and the District have been infected abroad, while mosquitoes have spread the virus to more than 14,000 people in the U.S. territories.

“The politics of Zika are garbage right now,” said Rep. David Jolly, a Florida Republican who brought a jar of Aedes aegypti mosquitos to the House floor Wednesday to highlight anxiety back home, where state officials have recorded 56 cases of mosquito-borne Zika, mainly in two neighborhoods around Miami.

Negotiations are unfolding with an eye toward the November elections, and a series of political fights that are likely to play out before then.

Conservatives are prodding House GOP leaders to hold a vote on impeaching the IRS commissioner, while Democrats say Republicans haven’t done enough to address the opioid epidemic, gun violence or lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan.

Senate Democrats also want Republicans to hold hearings on President Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.

On Zika, House Democrats say they already have compromised by dropping their demand from $1.9 billion to $1.1 billion — but say they cannot accept new GOP restrictions on Planned Parenthood and will not accept waiving environmental rules laying out restrictions on mosquito spraying.

“We need to have a bill that is clean, that comes to the floor. And by clean, I mean no poison pills,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.

House conservatives said Wednesday there is still $2.7 billion in untapped Ebola funding, suggesting that should be used for Zika.

“It would be just a better prioritization of those funds,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican.

House Republican leaders have scheduled a special meeting for Friday to discuss Zika and the continuing resolution, or “CR,” that will be needed to keep the government open beyond Sept. 30.

Conservatives fear the kind of spending bill that could emerge in a lame-duck December session, when many lawmakers will be retiring or will have lost their elections.

“No good can come out of a lame-duck CR,” said Rep. John Fleming, Louisiana Republican. “People who will not have to face their voters can stuff in last-minute, wasteful spending on behalf of their cronies — we call them crony capitalists. So it really opens up the Treasury to exploitation.”