After a seven week recess, the House and the Senate returned to session on Tuesday and promptly resumed the months-long partisan standoff over emergency funding to combat the spread of the Zika virus in the United States, according to The New York Times.
On Tuesday, Democrats in the Senate blocked a $1.1 billion plan to fight Zika. The proposed legislation was essentially the same bill the group blocked in late June, according to the Times. At the center of the dispute is Planned Parenthood. The most recent iteration of the House bill would exclude Planned Parenthood from the list of providers that would receive funding to provide contraception to limit the sexual transmission of the virus.
According to the Times, Democrats regard any restriction on Planned Parenthood as setting a risky precedent. Previous bills passed by the House for the purpose of funding Zika prevention efforts were designed to divert $622.1 million from other programs, including Planned Parenthood.
The most recent bill's failure comes as local Zika transmission continues in the state of Florida. On Aug. 30, the Director of the CDC Tom Frieden, MD, told reporters, "Basically, we're out of money. Congress needs to do something."
As of Aug. 31, there have been 2,722 cases of Zika reported in the U.S.
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