It has been months, yet Congress fails to get serious. Our Congress fails again to seriously address the public heath emergency caused by the Zika virus.

President Obama requested $1.9 billion for Zika prevention about 6 months ago, but Congress has not been able to agree on a bill to fund this. Not much has changed since I wrote about this almost a month ago (see Zika, politics as usual) except that Congress has left on vacation without doing anything.

Today I received a newsletter from my Representative in Congress reminding me that he and his colleages in the House have passed a bill to combat Zika. And pointing out that the bill is stalled in the Senate.

The newsletter does not tell us that the bill is stalled because several provision unacceptable to Democrats such as partially defunding ObamaCare, taking funds from Planned Parenthood, weaken rules on clean water, and allow the flying of Confederate flags in military cemeteries. And the bill also provides significantly less than requested.

There can be reasonable disagreement on the appropriate amount needed to address this emergency. But why add unrelated provisions that are likely to stop the bill from getting the widespread support needed.

Congress fails again. This is an emergency and it seems to me that emergencies should be handled by passing bill with a good chance of being enacted.

Congress fails again. It is politics as usual, a chance to get what you want in return for the other side being able to provide funds to address a problem In this case the problem is a public heath emergency.

Is it too much to hope that they will be able to get past the partisanship and settle on a bill that addresses Zika without adding unrelated provisions?