“I think that’s going to send a message”, he said, referring to the Zika-linked birth defect that causes infants to be born with abnormally small heads and can cause developmental delays and death Nelson pointed the finger at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. If Congress “cares about babies”, he insisted, they will make sure the Zika bill includes money for Planned Parenthood. The World Health Organization issued more stringent guidelines on how long people returning from Zika-affected areas should avoid sex. Lawmakers in both parties say they want to pass legislation to help the government combat Zika, but abortion politics stalled legislation to provide $1.1 billion before Congress left town in July.
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“Every time he surprises me he comes back and outdoes himself and surprises me again”, said Sen.
The Senate’s bill would have provided about $1.1 billion, including about $350 million in new money and the rest coming from existing health accounts, such as a fund for fighting the Ebola virus. That legislation would be meant to keep the government funded because it seems increasingly likely that Congress will not pass its annual spending bills by then.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, however, knows the blame is all the Democrats. It marked the third time the Senate voted on – and rejected – the measure.
Because of the Senate standoff, the Zika funding likely will be included in a fiscal year-end stop-gap measure meant to keep the federal government operating until Congress returns after the November 8 election or longer.
The Zika vote came as the mosquito-borne virus, which can also be transmitted sexually, spreads widely in the Puerto Rico and some USA states.
But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week that he and President Barack Obama will oppose that approach and press for a short-term measure until December.
“The House put what we call a poison pill in it”. New EpiPen probe MORE (R-Wis.) have both vowed to get money out the door to fight Zika by the end of September.
New College Political Science professor Keith Fitzgerald says the inaction reflects the divide in Congress.
Republicans have accused Democrats of blocking the bill to gain political advantage by portraying Republicans as obstructionists on Zika funding.
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“It is certainly a moral imperative for the Congress of the United States to pass legislation which will meet a very critical health challenge to its citizens”, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday.
