THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Zika virus in Puerto Rico has given us its first young Republican with the birth of the first microcephalic baby. Needless to say the Republicans, who need to grow the party, are dilly-dallying, log rolling, and kicking the can rather than fund a response that could keep the Republican Party small.

The Senate is expected to begin casting votes on Tuesday on aid to combat the Zika virus, one day after House Republicans rejected a demand by the White House for new emergency funding.

House Republicans instead put forward legislation on Monday that would require the Obama administration to reallocate $622 million from existing health programs to fight the mosquito-borne disease, which causes severe birth defects.

In announcing their proposal, House Republicans said in a statement that they were supporting “critical activities that must begin immediately, such as vaccine development and mosquito control.”

But the White House swiftly condemned their refusal to consider the Zika virus a health emergency that warrants new spending without corresponding cuts. The administration is seeking $1.9 billion from Congress to fight the virus.

Senate Republicans have scheduled votes beginning on Tuesday on three proposals, including a compromise measure that would provide $1.1 billion on an emergency basis without requiring cuts to cover the cost. The other two Senate proposals — one granting the administration’s full $1.9 billion request, and another requiring offsets — are expected to fail.

In the House, the Republican legislation highlighted a core philosophical dispute that has frequently paralyzed Washington in recent years: a refusal by some hard-line rank-and-file Republicans to support any new federal spending, even as President Obama and his fellow Democrats insist that the government’s involvement must grow to meet expanding needs.

The same dispute resulted in a government shutdown in 2013, and last year it led to the resignation of the House speaker, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, whose willingness to cut deals with the White House spurred a revolt by conservative hard-liners. Mr. Boehner’s successor, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, has hit the same roadblock, as the deficit hawks have refused to provide the votes needed to pass a budget resolution.

For Mr. Ryan, who built his reputation as the architect of ambitious Republican budget plans, the failure to cobble together the votes to adopt a budget resolution is a stinging embarrassment, particularly in a presidential election year in which he has promised to articulate an agenda that would help the Republicans win the White House.

Traditionally, a budget plan is the majority party’s clearest statement of its policy priorities, but the hard-liners in the House have refused to abide by an agreement reached last fall between Mr. Boehner and the White House that called for modest increases in government spending in 2017.

The refusal by the House hard-liners to approve new spending has also contributed to a deadlock over money to combat a nationwide opioid epidemic. Both the House and the Senate approved legislation in recent days to help states fight opioid addiction, but Democrats and even some Republicans say the proposals are pointless without money to put them in place.

Republicans, you always have to watch what they do not what they say. They may piss and moan about the existential threat of ISIS, but when money is needed to face real threats to the country and the people they are the first to say "No Way, Jose".