Gov. Rick Scott 'disappointed' by inaction of Congress in fight against Zika virus

Scott says he'll travel to Washington to pressure feds for funding

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott said he's "disappointed" that Congress hasn't done more to help Florida in the fight against the Zika virus.

Scott shared his thoughts Friday with Local 10 News while in Miami Beach for another roundtable discussion on the mosquito-borne virus.

The governor said he is traveling to Washington in September to pressure lawmakers into providing funding for Zika virus prevention. He said 43 people in Florida have contracted the virus since Congress went on recess.

Local 10 News senior political reporter Michael Putney asked Scott whether he intended to return to Florida with a clean Zika virus-funding bill.

"I'll be pretty disappointed, Michael, if we don't," Scott said.

Then Scott laid into Congress and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I'm disappointed that Congress went on recess," Scott said. "I'm disappointed that the present Congress didn't come together. The CDC, I have requests out to the CDC for additional Zika antibody test kits. We haven't received all that we asked. We haven't gotten Zika-prevention kits that we should have gotten already from the CDC. My expectation is that the federal government be a partner."

Scott said the state has already allocated $26.2 million to battle the Zika virus and will allocate more as needed.

"But this is a national issue," Scott said. "We need a vaccine."


About the Authors:

Peter Burke returned for a second stint of duty at Local 10 News in February 2014.