The U.S. Senate returned to work after a seven-week recess and immediately deadlocked Tuesday over funding to combat the Zika virus.
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For the third time, Senate Democrats are voting down federal funds to fight the Zika virus, blaming Republicans for wanting to cut Planned Parenthood funding.
There have been no reported locally transmitted cases of microcephaly in the continental United States.
The bill was attached to next year’s military construction and Veterans Affairs spending plan.
There have been dozens of Zika cases in the political battleground state of Florida.
Through the end of August, 16,832 Zika cases had been reported in the USA and its territories, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last week, health officials reported that in areas experiencing a Zika outbreak, there will likely be an accompanying increase in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome. The disease is spread by mosquitos. Calls for additional funding gained urgency last week when Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced that his agency has used nearly all of the $222 million it was allocated to fight the virus.
The vote was 52-46, with both New Jersey senators, Democrats Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, voting no.
Democrats have rejected that provision, saying many lower-income women rely on Planned Parenthood for their health-care needs, particularly in Puerto Rico, where Zika infections are becoming widespread.
The Zika legislation measure would provide $1.1 billion in funding, some of it for contraception because the virus can be transmitted sexually.
But Democrats, who could be on the cusp of taking back the Senate, argue the unresolved Zika funding, stalled Supreme Court nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, and lack of action on gun control, are proof of GOP recklessness and negligence and reasons why Republicans should be tossed from power. The dissenters were eight Republican senators. Grassley and Ernst supported a bill that would shortchange Zika research and treatment because it would prohibit any of the funding to be used by Planned Parenthood.
Senate Democrats protested the bill by staging a sit-in on the chamber floor, singing “We Shall Overcome”, while nestled on pillows specially brought in for the occasion, with catered gourmet food (all paid for by American taxpayer dollars).
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According to Planned Parenthood’s annual report, abortion services account for 3 percent of its medical procedures.
