In May, the U.S. Senate approved a $1.1 billion package, while the House passed legislation providing $622 million.
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The compromise failed after House Republicans attached language that would place restrictions on abortion and defund part of President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 healthcare law.
Clinton on Monday urged the passage of the original Senate bill or a similar one that can earn bipartisan support.
“If Sen. Kaine and his fellow Democrats want to pass a bill now, they can end their filibuster and simply give unanimous consent to pass the conference report and send it straight to the President this week”, said Don Stewart, McConnell’s spokesman. “Today, we have learned that there are four new individuals that have local transmissions of Zika in our state, likely through a mosquito bite”, Scott said in a statement.
Hillary Clinton called on Congress to return to Washington and pass a funding measure to fight Zika during a visit Tuesday to Miami – the Florida city that has become the one of the country’s most affected areas for the mosquito borne virus. The girl, who died a few weeks ago, had microcephaly linked to the Zika virus, said Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health.
According to a report from USA Today, the CDC says 15 babies in the US have been born with Zika-related birth defects.
The findings in the baby mark Texas’s second Zika-linked microcephaly case and are the state’s first fatality from Zika complications. The first was an elderly man who died in Utah in June, while battling a Zika infection, as well as other health conditions.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is only reporting limited information about Zika cases to protect patient privacy.
According to the CDC, 15 babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects. “You may not be a pregnant woman or even possible of being a pregnant woman but you can be a person bitten by a mosquito”.
The ongoing Zika outbreak was first detected past year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of the birth defect microcephaly.
The Centers for Disease Control has reported 1,825 cases of Zika through last Friday, including 322 cases in Florida. However, health officials say Texas mosquitos aren’t carrying the virus.
Another 369 cases in Florida were brought in by people who were infected while traveling outside the United States.
“The federal government must stop playing politics and Congress needs to immediately come back to session to resolve this”, Florida governor Rick Scott said in a statement Tuesday announcing the new cases.
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Clinton will call on Republican congressional leaders to summon lawmakers back to Washington from their summer recess and pass emergency funding for the Zika response.
