Subject: Talking Points -- House Republicans: #DoYourJob and Protect America’s Families
From: Dem Leader Press Office <[email-masked]>
To: Undisclosed recipients:;
Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 18:31:29 +0000

<democraticleader.gov>

May 16, 2016

Talking Points – House Republicans: #DoYourJob and
Protect America’s Families

Do Your Job, House Republicans
For months, House Republicans have blocked action on President Obama’s urgent request for an emergency supplemental to confront the rapid spread of the Zika virus.

Now, with more than 1,200 Americans – including more than 110 pregnant women – already with confirmed cases of Zika, House Republicans are telling American communities desperate for help to make do with less than a third of what America’s top public health officials say is needed to protect America’s families.  As Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/11/nih-anthony-fauci-stalled-funding-raises-zika-threat/84234424/>:

“If we don't get the money that the president has asked for, the $1.9 billion, that is going to have a very serious negative impact on our ability to get the job done.”

The growing threat of Zika demands passage of the President’s full $1.9 billion supplemental now, not a woefully inadequate proposal tied to an appropriations bill that is six months away from the President’s desk.

Democrats are sending a clear message to the Republican Congress: do your job to keep the American people safe, and don’t shortchange the resources needed to confront this very serious threat.

Every day, we learn more and more about the danger Zika represents to expectant mothers.  But House Republicans’ response is to obstruct the strong, smart action Americans need, and to make American communities wait months for an entirely inadequate Republican response:

·         The House GOP has voted twice to block emergency resources to protect American communities from Zika;

·         Now, Republicans are pushing a bill with a funding level less than one-third of the amount of the President’s emergency request that further depletes the ability of the U.S. to respond to the ongoing global threat of Ebola.

Republicans’ radical and dangerous refusal to address the threat of Zika in a serious way could have tragic consequences for families across America.

Again and again, Republicans have given lip-service to helping families and communities in crisis – but they have relentlessly obstructed real action and the resources needed to make a difference:

·         Zika – Republicans voted twice to block meaningful emergency funding to address Zika;

·         Opioids – Republicans voted twice last week to block the $600 million in fully paid-for vital new resources to address the opioid epidemic that kills 78 Americans every day.

·         Flint – Republicans are blocking any action to help the thousands of children facing lifelong damage from drinking poisoned water.

Furthermore, instead of coming together with Democrats to pass a budget resolution that will create jobs and grow the paychecks of hard-working American families, Republicans have decided not to pass a budget at all.

Today, Republicans moved to begin bringing appropriations bills to the floor without having enacted a budget, the final admission that Speaker Ryan has given up on trying to pass the Ryan Road-to-Ruin Budget proposal.  Here’s what was too weak to satisfy the radical forces that have seized control of the Republican Party; a budget that would:

·         End the Medicare guarantee for seniors;

·         Make $6.5 trillion in cuts – the sharpest cuts ever proposed by the House Budget Committee;

·         Devastate investments in good-paying jobs, education, and American infrastructure;

·         Repeal the Affordable Care Act and dismantle the affordable health care of 20 million Americans.

Hard-working families deserve a Congress that protects their safety and invests in their future.  Democrats will continue to press for action to keep American communities safe, and we will continue to make a simple appeal to House Republicans: do your job.
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