UNDATED (KELO-AM) South Dakota U.S. Senator John Thune (R) says that Senate Democrats are playing politics again with the Zika crisis.
The Democrats are pushing Congress to return early from summer vacation to take up funding to fight the Zika virus, especially now that cases caused by local mosquitoes have turned up in the Miami area.
But Thune tells KELO Radio that, basically, here they go again.
"Senate Democrats had more than one opportunity to vote for a $1.1. billion package that would have gone to fight Zika, but they blocked it, twice, for purely political reasons," says the Number 3 Senate Republican Leader.
Thune says the Democrats were playing politics then, and they are playing politics now.
One of the big reasons the Democrats blocked the Zika package Thune refers to is because they were afraid that funding for Planned Parenthood would be blocked.
Health officials are concerned that the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus could spread through the southern United States. Pregnant women must be very careful to protect themselves against the virus because it can cause birth defects.
