After a long summer vacation, the GOP-controlled Senate marked its return to Washington by failing to provide responsible legislation that would fund the fight against the deadly Zika virus.
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The Republican-controlled House of Representatives offered $1.1 billion in June, but it came with the provision that none of the money could be given to Planned Parenthood because of that group’s endorsement of abortion.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Republicans had sabotaged efforts to address Zika by including the restrictions on Planned Parenthood.
“I rise today to talk about Zika, and I rise with about 100 mosquitoes straight from Florida”, he told his fellow lawmakers, holding up the plastic container.
“Give us an up-or-down vote, straight, on Zika”, Biden, a former Democratic senator from DE, said at an event on Capitol Hill with fellow Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives.
In February, the White House requested more than $1.8 billion to enhance ongoing preparedness efforts and support essential strategies to combat the virus.
The bill included a provision blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving a contraception funding to fight Zika. You’d think a public health emergency would take precedence over subsidizing Shaheen’s political allies, but no such luck.
“It’s hard to explain why – despite their own calls for funding – Senate Democrats made a decision to block a bill that could help keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika”, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor. The Zika virus can cause severe, debilitating and often fatal birth defects.
Congress is back in Washington this week to work on completing a spending bill ahead of a September 30 deadline. Without a bill, federal agencies possibly will be shut down.
On Tuesday, Florida health officials said seven more home-grown cases of Zika, six of them part of an outbreak in Miami Beach, were found. Florida has documented 56 locally transmitted cases of Zika infection.
The World Health Organization says the outbreak of Zika remains an worldwide health emergency and noted the virus is continuing to infect new countries.
“Let’s stop this monkey business”, Nelson said, on the Senate floor.
Based on estimated numbers there should be about 60,000 pregnant women in Colombia with the Zika virus, yet there are hardly any cases of microcephaly.
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The study looked at almost 12,000 pregnant Colombian women infected with Zika.
