It’s also less than a $1.1 billion proposal that could be voted on by the U.S. Senate this week.
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The administration has already diverted $500 million intended for the fight against Ebola, but House Republicans believe still more Ebola funds could be shifted to the Zika response.
The House is expected to vote on Rogers’ proposal as early as Wednesday.
On Monday, the state Department of Health reported its 113th case: a person in Miami-Dade County who contracted the disease outside the continental US before arriving in Florida.
Zika is likely to spread more widely during the summer mosquito season, but officials say outbreaks in the US are likely to be limited.
So far, Americans living in the continental USA have acquired the virus only by traveling overseas to Caribbean and South American countries. “The crisis will long having arrived and we’ll be talking about cases that actually exist in the continental United States”, the Nevada Democrat added.
The legislation – introduced by Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers, the chairman of the House appropriations committee – includes $230 million for the National Institutes of Health to support the development of a vaccine and $170 million for the Centers for Disease Control to focus on mosquito control efforts.
“This legislation will make dollars available to fight the disease now, prioritizing critical activities that must begin immediately, such as vaccine development and mosquito control”, Rogers said in a statement Monday.
An amendment by Florida Sens.
The House proposal is significantly less than the $1.8 billion President Barack Obama had asked for to fight the disease.
House Republicans have maintained that the administration hasn’t shared enough information about who the $1.9 billion would be used. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). It is the most likely to pass.
This breaking news report will be updated.
Democrats are also pressing the GOP on timing.
“I understand the need to watch how you spend money”, Scott told reporters Wednesday. But during pregnancy, Zika can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects, as well as eye problems, hearing deficits, and impaired growth.
Four out of five people infected by Zika have no symptoms. However, a man in his 70s who was infected with Zika died in Puerto Rico in April of complications from the virus, making him the first US death from the disease, health officials said.
Obama requested the funding in February and has been forced to tap unspent 2015 funds from the successful battle against Ebola to finance nearly $600 million in anti-Zika efforts.
The administration says more money is needed for mosquito control, purchasing diagnostic tests and developing and manufacturing a vaccine.
Top Democrats also blasted Republicans for using unspent federal funds earmarked to address the threat of the Ebola virus, which infected some USA health workers in 2014, but had a devastating impact in several African countries.
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“They’re playing political games with a public health emergency”.
