Florida’s GOP governor urges Congress to approve Zika funding

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) will meet with GOP leaders in Congress next week, urging them to drop the “political grandstanding” and quickly approve funds to fight the Zika virus.

{mosads}Scott will travel to D.C. in an aggressive push to end months of partisan bickering that has held up federal funding to prepare for an outbreak with summer mosquito season just weeks away.

“While there is no doubt that Washington wastes money on many things, that vast history of wrongful spending should not stop the federal government from doing the right thing now by executing a robust plan to prevent and combat the spread of Zika in America,” Scott’s office wrote in a statement Wednesday.

The governor did not say how much money his state needed to prepare for the outbreak, but pointed out that more than 100 cases have already been reported in Florida.

Scott is the latest Florida Republican to call on GOP leaders to end their months-long fight with the White House over how much money to spend fighting Zika.

Rep. Vern Buchanan became the first House Republican this week to publicly endorse President Obama’s full funding request for $1.9 billion. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has also supported the full funding amount — the only GOP senator to do so.