Florida governor presses Obama for help with Zika

Florida Gov. Rick Scott warned Wednesday that his state is in dire need of more staff and mosquito-killing tools to effectively prevent an outbreak of the Zika virus. 

Scott wrote to the White House on Wednesday with a three-page list of detailed requests from Florida counties to fight Zika. Nearly two dozen counties said they needed to hire additional personnel.

“Florida needs action from the federal government now,” Scott wrote in the letter, dated June 1.

{mosads}The Republican governor penned a sharply worded letter to the Obama administration, criticizing both the federal health department as well as Congress for failing to act more quickly on funding.

“Your prompt attention to the items above is even more important now that we know Congress will not authorize any federal funding during their vacation time over the next two weeks,” he wrote, about a month after returning from a trip to D.C. to make a case for funding.

Scott’s visit was part of an aggressive push to end months of partisan bickering that has held up federal funding to prepare for an outbreak with the summer mosquito season just weeks away. Other Florida Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Vern Buchanan, have also called on Congress to fund the full $1.9 billion.

Scott accused the White House of failing to meet his already stated needs to fight Zika as Congress continues to punt on funding.

The governor said he had personally requested more assistance, such as more mosquito surveillance and abatement equipment, during his meeting last month with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, but has not yet received it.

He requested a detailed plan by June 15 about “how you would like us to work with” the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the state steps up its preparation for Zika. The virus, which can cause severe birth defects, is expected to begin spreading locally in the continental U.S. sometime this month.