Hillary Clinton is slated to make the demand in an appearance Tuesday afternoon in Miami, the epicenter of Florida' Zika outbreak. | Getty Clinton calls out Congress on Florida Zika outbreak

MIAMI — Visiting a health clinic at ground zero of the Zika virus here, Hillary Clinton said she’s “disappointed” with Congress’ inability to break a funding impasse over Zika virus — injecting a new dose of presidential politics into the legislative fight that's put Capitol Hill on defense during much of the summer session.

“I’m very disappointed that the Congress went on recess before agreeing what resources to put in this fight,” Clinton told the medical staff of the Borinquen Medical Centers of Miami-Dade County, which is testing those worried they may have contracted the Zika virus. The health center is located in the Wynwood neighborhood in Miami, which has been the epicenter of Florida’s Zika outbreak.


Clinton said she got a letter from a worried family with a pregnant relative and urged them to get to the Miami clinic to get tested. The former secretary of state said the failure of Congress to act does “a grave disservice” to the many medical professionals on the front lines trying to keep the virus from spreading.

The severity of Zika in the United States has escalated in recent weeks, with the first local transmission of the virus in Florida and an unusual warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising pregnant women and their partners against traveling to the Wynwood neighborhood.

Senate Democrats have twice filibustered a $1.1 billion Zika measure attached to a broader bill that funds military construction and veterans projects. Their objection centers around a provision in the Zika measure — negotiated primarily by House and Senate Republicans — restricting funding for Planned Parenthood.

President Barack Obama has said he would veto the measure with the Planned Parenthood restrictions. But top Republicans have not relented either, and have increasingly put more pressure on Democrats to back off their blockade of the Zika measure, which has already passed the House.

“We would love for Sen. Kaine and others to end that filibuster and pass the bill, but it doesn’t sound like they’re prepared to do that,” said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), referring to Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. “Apparently they believe an earmark for Planned Parenthood in the future is more important than preventing the threat of Zika now.”

Still, Clinton is demanding that Congress pass a separate, $1.1 billion Zika measure that the Senate cleared earlier this year with nearly 90 votes, or a new funding bill that was “free of politics,” according to a Clinton campaign aide.

The Zika virus is “one of the canaries in the mine,” Clinton said at the Miami health center, and she added that it’s a test in how the government and the public deals with an epidemic because “diseases are going to find their way here” given the rise in global travel and climate change.

During her tour of the clinic, Clinton asked doctors and others about who’s getting tested for Zika and what challenges they face in treating the fast-growing virus. She also noted that she has sent two campaign aides to Puerto Rico, another locale affected significantly by the Zika virus, for what she billed a “fact-finding mission.”

“This is serious challenge and one we need to address before it expands,” said Clinton, who said she first became aware of Zika through her daughter, Chelsea.

Kim reported from Washington.