Carlos Curbelo’ s fierce loyalty to Trump’s reckless Republican Party is on full display as he continues his round-the-clock politicization of Zika virus response funding. On Spanish radio, Carlos Curbelo claimed to buck his party’s leadership on a funding bill that was just 1/3 of President Obama’s request, when in fact, it was Carlos Curbelo himself who first proposed a similar bill with no emergency funding to fight Zika.
Later, instead of challenging his leadership to send a clean Zika response funding bill to the floor to ensure its passage, Carlos Curbelo blamed Democrats for controversial policy riders that Republican leadership cynically inserted even though they knew it would sink the measure because it would allow Republicans across the country to blame Democrats for its failure.
These Republican riders included barring money from going to contraceptive services for women in Zika-afflicted areas, which includes groups like Planned Parenthood, and waiving environmental rules allowing pesticides in waterways. The bill even eliminated a rule that barred flying the Confederate flag at veterans’ cemeteries.
“While the Zika virus endangers the health of women and children in South Florida, Carlos Curbelo has chosen to remain fiercely loyal to reckless Republicans who ignore the urgency of this crisis,” said Jermaine House of the DCCC. “ What’s worse is that Congressman Curbelo continues his round-the-clock efforts to mislead the people of Florida. President Obama first requested a response to Zika in February, but here we are in August and Curbelo still hasn’t found the courage to come clean and stand up for the lives of women and children in South Florida.”