|
 "Maybe today or tomorrow," Pelosi told reporters in a hallway on
Thursday. She did not give an amount, but said, "I think they are
going to try to do it a piece at a time, hoping that something else
will happen," an apparent reference to the administration's request
that the Republican-led Congress approve a funding bill to combat
the virus.
The Obama administration in February requested $1.9 billion to fight
the virus, which was first detected in Brazil last year and has
spread rapidly in the Americas. Before going home on summer recess,
lawmakers were discussing a $1.1 billion measure, but the bill
stalled amid partisan bickering.
House Democrats at a news conference urged the Republicans to
reconvene Congress to address the virus. Florida is grappling with
at least 21 cases of locally transmitted Zika, and the Obama
administration has already reprogrammed nearly $600 million to fight
the virus.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will spend all of
its remaining funds by the end of September, while two other
agencies will exhaust their resources for Zika by the end of August,
Representative Rosa DeLauro said.
[to top of second column] |
Money will have to be shifted from biomedical research to fight Zika,
DeLauro said. "If they don't, vaccine development will be stopped
dead in its tracks," she said.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Jonathan
Oatis)
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