As Congress prepares to close up shop a day early for their 7-week recess without addressing the Zika crisis, Carlos Curbelo took to the House floor to try and convince Floridians that he has “consistently advocated for full funding at the administration’s request.” This is clearly false. Let’s take a look back at Curbelo’s, shall we say, evolution on Zika.
February 8: The Obama Administration announces that it would request from Congress more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to prepare and respond to Zika.
April 21: Carlos Curbelo introduces a bill saying that no new emergency supplemental funds would be appropriated until Ebola funding was dispersed.
April 28: Carlos Curbelo joins House Republicans for the second time to block an immediate vote on legislation to provide the full resources to fight Zika.
May 2: The Hill reports that “Rep. Carlos Curbelo, also introduced a bill last week to immediately move all leftover funding from the U.S. Ebola virus response into the Zika response, though he didn’t say he would support the full $1.9 billion.”
May 12: Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Gus Bilirakis release a joint statement with Governor Rick Scott following his meetings in Washingotn, D.C. that made no mention of $1.9 billion request
May 12: Carlos Curbelo tells the Miami Herald he supported the administration’s request in a radio interview, though the Miami Herald was unable to find audio of the interview.
“Surely Carlos Curbelo doesn’t think that a last minute speech in Congress is going to convince South Floridians that he has been a champion on Zika,” said DCCC Spokesman, Jermaine House. “This is a crisis that has been months in the making, and the time to have done something was in February, not a day before House Republicans turn off the lights and go on vacation.”
Read full memo on Curbelo’s Zika hypocrisy here: