Meanwhile, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3 District, made an impassioned plea on Tuesday to fellow members of the House Appropriations Committee to add $1.9 billion to fight Zika in the defense spending bill.
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However, the compromise will only allot half of the funds initially sought by the federal government to address the virus.
The White House called that number “woefully inadequate” and threatened to veto that spending plan.
Rubio, who’s broken with Senate Republican leaders in an all-out press for the entire $1.9 billion, took to the Senate floor once more to plead for the funds, which Obama requested of Congress nearly three months ago.
The Florida Republican is backing the full $1.9 billion Obama administration request and has repeatedly taken his colleagues to task for slow-walking the matter.
“Totally inadequate”, Senator Chuck Schumer of NY, the heir apparent to Minority Leader Harry Reid, said in an interview in the Capitol.
“Community leaders are saying they’re out of funds: ‘Help”. It divided Senate Republicans, with 29 opposing the measure and 23 supporting it. Sen. “It provides only $622 million”.
Gov. Greg Abbott has created an infectious disease task force, and academics and scientists around the state are also working on a vaccine – but don’t expect it to be ready by Memorial Day, when peak mosquito season begins.
“There is a risk of spread of Zika virus disease in the European Region and. this risk varies from country to country, said Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO’s regional director for Europe”.
“In recent months, it has become evident that we do not have a comprehensive understanding of the Zika virus – how it works and what its immediate and long-term health implications are”, the letter reads.
But Dallas Gerber, a spokesman for Gibbs, said the reframing is entirely appropriate, since the bill would allow more spraying to kill the mosquitoes that carry Zika. “The House of Representatives is three months late and more than $1 billion short”.
The White House and its Democratic allies have been sharply critical of Republicans controlling Congress over delays in providing additional funds, which they say is required for mosquito control, purchasing diagnostic tests and developing and manufacturing a vaccine.
A showdown is looming between the Senate and the House, which is expected to take action on its Zika funding bill on Wednesday. He said such an outbreak affecting just a small percentage of Texas’ population could cause up to $1 billion in lost productivity, hospitalization costs and Medicaid expenditures.
There is no reason why we should not fully fund this (Obama) proposal and listen to the doctors and the health experts that are asking for this. Clawson has proposed bills to establish a tax credit for vaccine research and development, and to reauthorize grants for mosquito abatement programs. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
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“The more we learn about Zika, the more anxious we get about it”, Dr. Margaret Chan said in a briefing Tuesday in Geneva, saying she herself would be going to the Rio Games. He described the Senate’s much bigger bill as “a bridge too far”.
