The potential Senate Zika measure could advance as part of a broader legislative effort to temporarily keep federal agencies operating in the 2017 fiscal year that begins October 1.
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Zika is spread by mosquitoes and sexual contact.
In the debate leading up to the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Democrats of pointing “to a series of partisan excuses” in order to drag their feet. A short-term CR until December would give the lame duck Congress a chance to work out a permanent funding plan for next year.
Asked if the Senate should quickly pass a bill including Zika funding Democrats agree to and leave the House to pass it, Sen.
US Vice President Joe Biden is urging Congress to pass funding legislation to tackle the Zika virus. She lives in Miami, where the Zika virus is spreading and the Republicans who run Congress refuse to respond without cutting off funds for Planned Parenthood.
In the Janesville, Wisconsin radio interview, Ryan said he anticipates there will be resolution on Zika dollars by the end of September.
In a related move Tuesday, Reid said Democrats would work to increase pressure on Republicans to confirm Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
The political gridlock comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it had spent almost all of the $22m (£16m) allocated to the agency in the fight against Zika.
“It’s our insistence that any short-term [continuing resolution] include Zika and what we call the clean Zika bill, and they understand that”, Durbin said.
While you were out campaigning, fundraising or barbequing, however, the number of Zika cases in the USA more than doubled to 2,700, and people infected with the virus have turned up in every state. It marked the third time the Senate voted on – and rejected – the measure. “Now is the time to lead and to show the American people that Congress will act to protect them”.
“I’m still stunned that the Republican leader made a decision to have a seven-week vacation and it was more important to do that than funding our nation’s Zika response”, Reid said. As we have come to learn, this is a virus carried by a certain species of mosquito.
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, said Republicans were “more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood” than “protecting women and babies from this terrible virus”. Jolly added, “It’s clear there’s not votes for any other path forward”.
