Perhaps eyeing 2018, Scott slams Nelson over Zika funding vote

via @learyreports

WASHINGTON -- Less than a minute into his news conference this afternoon calling for an end to politics over Zika funding, Gov. Rick Scott swung hard at Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for voting against a funding bill last week that Democrats say is an attack on Planned Parenthood.

“He turned the back on Floridians,” Scott charged, a striking accusation lobbed the second floor of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Moments earlier Scott declared: "I'm here because the time for politics is over. The time for political debate has passed."

Scott on Tuesday began a two day tour of Capitol Hill to press for funding. He did not reach out to Nelson, whom could see Scott challenge him for re-election in 2018.

"In a health care crisis, there is no excuse for partisanship," Nelson said in interview earlier Tuesday. "That's all I can say." In a statement after Scott spoke, Nelson added: “Just as we’re about to reach a deal to pass a clean emergency Zika funding bill, the governor chooses to fly up here and stir things up politically. He should know better. This is a serious situation, not a time for partisan politics.”

Democrats have objected to a GOP bill that included policy riders, including one they say is designed to prevent money to Planned Parenthood in Puerto Rico. The Zika virus can be transmitted sexually.

Nelson has joined in that criticism but has been a vocal advocate on the Zika issue and has worked with Sen. Marco Rubio, who agrees a "clean" bill should be taken up, even though he's voted for the measure Scott knocked Nelson over. On Tuesday, Nelson joined a bipartisan group of House members in calling for more urgent action.

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times

Florida lawmakers push for Zika funding in Congress: 'This is a big moment'

via @learyreports

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers -- including one of the most liberal and the most conservative in Congress -- pressed Tuesday for a "clean" $1.1 billion spending measure to combat the Zika virus.

 

"This is a big moment in the history of Florida. If I'm being urged to vote to spend big money overseas for bombs, by God I'm going to vote for financial bombs to go after a bad mosquito in order to save babies," said Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, a staunch fiscal conservative.

Clawson took the lead in the funding measure and was joined at a news conference at the Capitol by a gaggle of Republicans and Democrats, including Sen. Bill Nelson, liberal firebrand Alan Grayson, Senate candidate Patrick Murphy and Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Frederica Wilson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, David Jolly and Gwen Graham.

"Unfortunately this has become a partisan game in Washington, D.C.," said Murphy, whose campaign shortly after issued a statement blasting Sen. Marco Rubio for not attending the news conference.

The cohesive Florida effort comes late, however, and a stalemate over funding appears to be lifting as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to insert $1.1 billion in a short-term budget deal, Senate officials confirmed Tuesday. It would not include policy riders that Democrats say were designed to attack Planned Parenthood. Rubio spoke about the deal on the Senate floor.

Gov. Rick Scott is in Washington Tuesday and Wednesday to make his own appeal for funding.

 

--ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times

Florida members of Congress to Gov. Rick Scott: Ask for clean Zika bill

@PatriciaMazzei

Nine Florida members of Congress asked Gov. Rick Scott to use his Tuesday visit to Washington to advocate for a "clean" Zika funding bill, free of any politically charged amendments that would make it more difficult for the legislation to win bipartisan approval.

"The stakes are too high to allow partisan riders to hold up this critical support, and existing funding is set to run out by the end of this month," the lawmakers wrote in a letter. "There are over 300 cases of Zika in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, 84 of which involve pregnant women. For pregnant mothers in areas with Zika, not knowing whether one mosquito bite will dramatically alter their unborn child’s life is a daily fear, especially in South Florida, where mosquitos are year-round inhabitants."

The letter, led by Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, was signed by Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Gwen Graham of Tallahassee, Alcee Hastings of Delray Beach, Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, Patrick Murphy of Jupiter, Kathy Castor of Tampa and Frederica Wilson of Miami Gardens. They were joined by two Miami Republicans, Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Scott will be on Capitol Hill lobbying for Zika money through Wednesday.

There are problems with how Florida is reporting Zika cases

via @dchangmiami

For months, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and state agencies have reported almost daily on the public health crisis posed by the spread of Zika.

From the first three travel-related cases identified in January, to the emergence of local Zika infections in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood in July, followed by the discovery of mosquitoes infected with the virus in Miami Beach in September, the governor and state officials have vowed to keep Floridians informed so they can prepare.

“We're going to put out accurate and timely information,” Scott told a group of reporters following a Zika roundtable with civic leaders in Miami Beach in August. “We want everybody to be prepared. We all have to take this seriously.”

But the information issued by the governor and state agencies has not been timely or accurate — cases announced as “new” are often several weeks old, due to a time lag in diagnosis — and excludes details that public health experts say would allow people to make informed decisions and provide a complete picture of Zika’s foothold in Florida.

“I don’t think the message has been strong enough, in terms of ‘We have a problem’,” said Arthur Caplan, director of medical ethics for New York University Langone Medical Center. “It makes no sense — unless you see it through the eyes of the impact on tourism. I think that’s money driving reporting rather than public health.”

Over the past month, as local Zika infections have spread beyond Miami-Dade, with cases cropping up in Broward, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties, Florida officials have:

▪ Stopped providing detailed information on epidemiological investigations into local Zika infections;

▪ Refused to identify all the locations where Zika-positive mosquitoes were trapped in Miami Beach;

▪ And under-reported the number of local Zika infections in Florida by excluding anyone who is not a state resident.

More here.

Miami-Dade mayor accuses challenger of trying to "shamelessly exploit" Zika crisis

@doug_hanks

The Zika divide in the Miami-Dade mayoral race may be the sharpest of all, with challenger Raquel Regalado on Thursday coming out against Mayor Carlos Gimenez's decision to spar aerial insecticide over Miami Beach over the objections of some residents. Read this first wave of that coverage here. 

Late Friday, Gimenez issued a statement that accused Regalado of choosing political opportunism over public health. "It is clear Ms. Regalado only seeks to shamelessly exploit Zika for political gain through demagogic and incendiary statements," Gimenez wrote. He likened Regalado's Zika statement to her using the June nightclub shootings in Orlando to critique the mayor's police budget in an email to supporters that asked for campaign donations.

"Ms. Regalado's objective is to create confusion and fear instead of addressing people's concerns," Gimenez wrote. He noted Regalado, a school board member, did not object to aerial spraying in Miami, home of the first Zika outbreak, earlier in the summer. Regalado's father, Tomás Regalado, is mayor of Miami.  

Scott reschedules trip to D.C. to lobby for Zika funding

@PatriciaMazzei

Florida Gov. Rick Scott will travel to Washington on Tuesday to ask Congress to set aside money to fight the Zika virus, his office said Friday.

The governor was supposed to go to Capitol Hill this week, when lawmakers returned from their summer recess, but he stayed behind in Tallahassee to deal with Hurricane Hermine cleanup.

Scott will remain in D.C. through Wednesday.

Patrick Murphy touts Bill Nelson 'endorsement' after Nelson defended Marco Rubio

@ByKristenMClark

Democrat Patrick Murphy's U.S. Senate campaign on Friday heralded what it cast as a fresh endorsement from current Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson -- just days after Nelson undercut Murphy's latest attack on his Republican opponent.

Earlier this week, Nelson defended incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the man Murphy wants to unseat in November.

Murphy, a two-term congressman from Jupiter, began the week off by attacking Rubio for not doing enough to get a Zika funding bill passed through Congress. But Nelson told reporters on Capitol Hill hours later that the fault lies not with Rubio but with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Remember, (Rubio) voted for the $1.9 billion and he was my co-sponsor. And he voted for the $1.1 billion with no riders," Nelson said, diminishing Murphy's criticism that Rubio had failed to "deliver" on a "clean" Zika bill.

Murphy's campaign on Friday also tried to cast Nelson's endorsement as recent, noting that Nelson is someone who "has openly supported Murphy since the (Aug. 30) primary."

But Nelson has actually "openly supported" Murphy for more than a year -- at least 15 months, to be exact.

Nelson gave Murphy's campaign a $5,000 donation in June 2015, the Herald/Times reported last fall. And Nelson hasn't been shy about praising Murphy's candidacy in the months since.

For instance, Nelson had this to say about Murphy in May, when addressing a crowd of Democrats at a Miami fundraiser for state Senate candidate Jose Javier Rodriguez: 

"This is the man, if you look at the kind of credentials -- what you’re going to be offered if you’re a Democrat in the Democratic primary or if you’re a Republican, what you’re going to be offered in the general election between him and his opponent -- I think you’ll see why I’m excited by Patrick as well."

Nelson was among the Democratic heavyweights in the party establishment who either quietly or unabashedly supported Murphy in his contested primary against fellow U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson -- a strategy that vaulted Murphy into front-runner status and kept him there by paving the way for further endorsements and lucrative campaign donations.

Murphy's campaign said Friday that Nelson will begin headlining campaign events for Murphy. No details have been announced.

Photo credit: Kristen M. Clark / Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau

Rubio keeps getting asked about Trump. And now, about Putin

@PatriciaMazzei

Friday marked the end of federal lawmakers' first week in Congress after their summer break, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio returned to Miami to give reporters an update on legislation he filed dealing with Iran and Zika.

The Zika virus drew a couple of questions. Then came a mention of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump -- and Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Never mind that Rubio answered questions Thursday in Washington about Putin, whom he's long derided as am "authoritarian thug." And that he's given the same sort of answers on Trump for months.

In blue Miami-Dade County, where a majority of voters are Hispanic, he keeps getting asked.

"Nothing has changed" on his support of Trump, Rubio said at his local Senate office, across the street from Trump National Doral golf resort.

"Vladimir Putin is not a president. He's a dictator," Rubio said. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, however, "fundamentally misread" Putin as secretary of state, Rubio said.

Does he worry about Trump's tone on immigration? "You'll have to ask other candidates about their position," Rubio said.

Shortly after his news conference concluded, a new poll showed Rubio leading his Democratic Senate opponent, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter, by 50-43 percent.

Photo credit: Roberto Koltun, el Nuevo Herald

Patrick Murphy speaks about Zika on House floor for first time

@ByKristenMClark

Thursday was the first time Jupiter U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy talked on the House floor about the need for congressional Zika funding.

It's a noteworthy moment for the Democratic candidate for Florida's U.S. Senate seat. Murphy has spoken frequently in the media about the topic for several months and, recently, he's used it as a campaign issue to attack incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for not doing enough. Rubio has lobbed his own share of criticism at Murphy, too, while both politicize Congress' deadlock.

While Thursday was Murphy's first mention of Zika on the House floor, Rubio has spoken at least 10 times on the Senate floor since mid-April, the Congressional Record shows -- including floor speeches on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.

Several members of Florida's congressional delegation also spoke on the House floor on Wednesday, and five spoke on Thursday before Murphy did.

With Congress back in session this week from its summer recess, Murphy and Rubio are both jockeying to appear as more of the leader on the issue.

For instance, Murphy on Wednesday announced he and Republican U.S. Rep. David Jolly, of Belleair Bluffs, were spearheading a bipartisan letter from Florida U.S. House members to again urge congressional leaders to approve the $1.9 billion President Barack Obama previously requested.

Here was Murphy's floor speech from Thursday:

And Rubio's floor speech from Tuesday:

Photo credit: C-SPAN/YouTube

Wall Street Journal editorial blasts 'The Patrick Murphy Zika Filibuster'

@ByKristenMClark

In a commentary published Thursday night, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board accuses Democrats of holding up congressional funding for Zika in order to use the issue as "political ammunition" solely to help U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy win Florida's U.S. Senate seat.

"Maybe Democrats aren’t so confident anymore about retaking the Senate in a romp," the newspaper's editorial board opined, adding later that Murphy "is desperate" against Republican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio.

"Democrats figured they had the Senate sewn up, but Republicans are running smart campaigns and are polling ahead of Donald Trump in their states," the editorial board also wrote. "So Democrats need to invent some other campaign deception, even at the expense of pregnant women."

You can read the Journal's full editorial here.

Both Murphy and Rubio want the full $1.9 billion that President Barack Obama requested earlier this year to fight the Zika virus. But the two continue to accuse each other of politicizing the health crisis, as Congress remains deadlocked over a provision that excludes funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico. Zika can be transmitted through sex, and the clinics' family planning services include providing condoms.

Photo credit: Richard Graulich / Palm Beach Post