MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott traveled to Washington on Tuesday to meet with congressional leaders to demand funding to fight the Zika virus.
The governor met with Sen. Marco Rubio, as well as House Speaker Paul Ryan and several Republican Florida representatives.
Scott called his meeting with the House Speaker "productive"` and said Ryan understood the urgency of the situation.
Scott's goal is to have a funding bill passed by the end of the week. He said Senator Rubio indicated Senate Leader McConnell telegraphed plans to add Zika funding to the emergency resolution that will keep the government funded through December.
Scott is set to meet with Sen. Mitch McConnell and Florida congressional leaders on Wednesday.
Florida's congressional delegation is unified on Zika funding, but they are prepared for a fight.
"My district just happens to be the epicenter of the Zika virus," U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) told her fellow constituents Tuesday.
The Zika virus has transcended party lines among Florida lawmakers, sounding an ever louder alarm about a growing health and economic crisis in Florida.
"We do have a bipartisan message from the Florida congressional delegation that the governor's message should be very clear that we need to adopt a clean Zika bill and leave the politics aside for another day," U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Fla., said.
Scott said he has allocated more than $26 million from the state to combat the virus, but he said that it is not enough.
"Our federal government has managed to get its hands into way too many things," Scott said in a statement. "Over the past eight years they have managed to grow our national debt from $10 trillion to nearly $20 trillion. And yet, they can't agree on spending money to stomp out a serious disease? It's unacceptable. It's exactly why the entire country is fed up with Washington and the federal government. This is not a partisan issue. Mosquitoes don't care about party affiliation. Zika is non-partisan."
Scott's trip comes a day after eight new non-travel-related cases were confirmed in the state.
He has called on Congress to hold a field meeting on Zika preparedness and prevention in Miami by Oct. 1.
"I initially asked members to hold this meeting in Miami by the start of hurricane season, and now that we have had the first hurricane hit our state in over a decade, it is even more important that this happens," Scott said. "Dumping standing water is a major factor in our fight against Zika, and members need to come to Florida during our rainy season when mosquitoes are most prevalent to hear from those who are on the frontlines of battling this virus."
More ground spraying was conducted on Miami Beach early Tuesday to combat the virus.
There are now 70 non-travel related Zika virus cases in Florida. There are 13 new travel-related cases, including eight in Miami-Dade County.