According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the number of cases of the Zika virus in the U.S. has grown from 107 in February to 618 as of June 1. The virus has people all over the world scared. Though it poses little threat to healthy adults, babies in the wombs of infected mothers can suffer catastrophic birth defects.

So of course President Barack Obama is asking Congress for $1.8 billion to fight it.

But just how serious is he about it? Well, Congress last December gave the President discretion to pull money already allocated to foreign aid and spend it to fight Zika. Over $500 million was available.

And Obama pulled it. But he didn’t spend it on Zika.

Instead, he committed that money to the U.N. Climate Fund—something Congress refused to include in its budget.

I.e., Obama decided to saddle our children with another half billion dollars in debt to fight Zika rather than fighting it with money already appropriated.

Sigh.

 

 

Featured image “Zika Virus Map” by CDC via Chris Eden, Flickr Creative Commons