Kaine: Trump has been silent on Zika
Tim Kaine on Tuesday accused Donald Trump of failing to lead in the fight against the Zika virus.
“If you look at what Donald Trump has said on Zika, it’s kind of crickets, it’s like nothing,” Kaine said at a rally in Daytona Beach, Fla. — a state that facing a travel warning over the Zika outbreak.
{mosads}”I think he acknowledged once on a show, ‘Yeah, it’s a big problem,’ ” the Democratic vice presidential nominee added.
Kaine also accused House Republicans of sinking a Senate compromise by tying anti-Zika money to a measure defunding Planned Parenthood.
“Folks, Planned Parenthood is not a public health emergency, Planned Parenthood is an important provider of healthcare in this country for millions of women,” the Virginia senator said, reiterating a call for lawmakers to head back to Washington for an emergency session to pass additional Zika funding.
The comments come days after health officials confirmed that mosquitoes are spreading Zika in the continental U.S. for the first time.
A total of 14 people in Miami, Fla., have been infected by mosquitoes, in addition to more than 300 people in the state who contracted it abroad.
The outbreak prompted an unprecedented travel advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urging pregnant women not to travel to the area because the virus can cause severe birth defects.
Kaine also hammered Trump on immigration in his pitch to Sunshine State voters.
Switching between English and Spanish, Kaine chided Trump’s rhetoric and policy proposals on immigration.
“The Donald Trump plan is not only not do immigration reform, but shake your fist at new Americans and call them names,” he said.
“Whether it’s an ‘inmigrante nuevo,’ somebody here just for the first day, or whether it’s a Latina governor of New Mexico, or a federal judge who was a respected U.S. prosecutor … those aren’t the values of our country.”
– Sarah Ferris contributed.
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