House passes Zika bill opposed by White House, Senate Dems

Legislation providing $1.1 billion in funding for anti-Zika virus efforts has passed in the House, but the Obama administration and the leader of the Senate Democrats are strongly criticizing the proposal.

After the two chambers passed appropriations bill with different levels of methods of funding—a $622 million package in the House lasting through Sept. 2016 and a $1.1 billion Senate package which doesn’t end until Sept. 2017—a conference committee was set up to settle the dispute.  

The result was a $1.1 billion bill which relies on reprioritizing $750 million from other health agencies, including $543 million that House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., described as “unspent Obamacare funding that was intended for territories to set up health care exchanges.” Another $100 million would be transferred from HHS’ administrative fund.

“The bill includes strong oversight measures to ensure these funds are used to fight the Zika virus and vector-borne diseases, and not for other purposes,” Rogers said in his summary of the bill.

The bill would appropriate:

• $476 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, primarily for controlling mosquitoes, along with emergency grants to local and state health departments.
• $230 million to the National Institutes of Health for developing a Zika vaccine.
• $165 million to the State Department to address outbreaks in other countries.
• $85 million to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for research into new diagnostic tests for Zika.

Democrats refused to sign off on the agreed-to legislation, though it was crafted in a conference committee. The bill then passed in House on a largely partisan 239-171 vote in the House, with two Republicans voting against it and six Democrats in support. The vote occurred at 3 a.m. in the midst of a Democrat-led sit-in protest on the House floor calling for votes on gun control measures.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest called the plan “four months late and nearly a billion dollars short,” while criticizing Republicans for including measures unrelated to the virus.

“The fact that the Republican plan limits needed birth control services for women in the United States and Puerto Rico as we seek to stop the spread of a sexually transmitted disease is a clear indication they don't take seriously the threat from the Zika virus or their responsibility to protect Americans,” Earnest said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave a harsh response which doesn’t bode well for the bill’s chances in the upper chamber.

“It's a disgrace. It's a mockery of how Congress should treat an emergency,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.

According to the CDC, more than 1,400 people, including 500 pregnant women, in the U.S. have been confirmed to been infected with the Zika virus. It’s known to cause birth defects, including microcephaly, and can be spread by mosquitoes or sexual contact.