In February, the White House formally asked Congress for $2 billion dollars to help combat the Zika virus around the world. Now, the Senate has worked out a bipartisan deal will allocate it emergency funding.
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The $US1.1 ($2) billion is less than the White House had asked for, money that will go towards mosquito control efforts to help suppress the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is primarily responsible for spreading the illness. The White House has already reallocated nearly $US600 ($825) million to help with efforts, pulled from coffers used to help fight Ebola, not nearly enough for the impending mosquito season.
While the bill has support in the US Senate, it must also pass the US House of Representatives, where House Republicans have begun crafting their own version of the bill, which will provide under a billion dollars. Only a single House Republican, Florida Representative Vern Buchanan, supports the $US1.9 ($3) billion request, noting that his state will be particularly hard hit by the virus this summer:
“Zika’s shadow is spreading too quickly in Florida, which has one quarter of all the Zika cases in the United States,” Buchanan said. “The rest of the country should keep in mind that summer is coming and so are the mosquitoes. Congress needs to act quickly.”
The compromise will be attached to an upcoming spending bill that is scheduled for a vote next week.