US lawmakers sought on Wednesday to break a logjam over $1.1 billion in funding to combat the Zika virus, with the Senate possibly considering legislation as soon as next week, even as one congressman toted a jar full of mosquitoes to the House floor to condemn congressional inaction.
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Last week, Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced that his agency had used nearly all of the $222 million it was allotted to fight the Zika virus.
Last week, CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters that his agency is almost out of its $222 million allocation. Out of those, 23 were sexually transmitted.
But the Democrats’ set determination to make a stand upon their altar to Planned Parenthood and protecting Obama’s wasted funding do not compare favorably with other lawmakers’ genuine concerns for protecting their own constituents and other USA citizens.
“Republicans were more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood and flying the Confederate flag”. “But instead, anti-women’s health politicians in the House are continuing their reckless crusade against Planned Parenthood’s patients”. They accuse Republicans of sabotaging the Zika funding measure negotiated earlier this year by including a backdoor way to cut money for an Obamacare program and Planned Parenthood affiliates in Puerto Rico, among other objections. “Can’t make that stuff up – that’s really the truth – than protecting women and babies from this terrible virus”, said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Even staunch anti-choicer Sen. “McConnell should understand that Democrats will not support 10 weeks away from Washington”, Reid said from the Senate floor.
But in negotiations with the House, the ban on Planned Parenthood funding was added to the final bill.
In addition to the 56 people infected with the disease in Florida, 2,686 travel-related cases from across the country have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The disease is linked to severe microcephaly, a serious birth defect where a baby’s head is much smaller than other babies’ heads of the same age, which can cause developmental delays, physical impairments and seizures among other medical conditions. But his comments to the Hill signal he’s now willing to put public health above ideology. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who worked out the bipartisan plan with Republican Sen. Twenty-two GOP senators are up for reelection in November. “We already passed it in the Senate – clean – without the political riders”, he told reporters when asked about Zika as a wedge issue in the upcoming election.
The New York Times reports that lawmakers “expect to address the funding issue by the end of the month as part of a must-pass, stopgap spending measure”. The vote could prompt GOP leaders to try to attach money to battle Zika to a must-do temporary spending bill that is the top priority for an abbreviated pre-election session of Congress.
The impasse will break, and must break, Murray said in an interview late Tuesday.
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In the Janesville, Wisconsin radio interview, Ryan said he anticipates there will be resolution on Zika dollars by the end of September.
