House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi isn’t willing to support providing less than $1.9 billion to fight the Zika virus, as the House and Senate try to reach an agreement on funding that is less than that.
“Why are we nickel and diming a request that can stop the malformation of babies conceived at this time?” the House Democratic minority leader asked during her weekly press conference Wednesday.
President Obama asked for $1.9 billion in February to fight Zika. However, the House last week passed $622 million in funding that would be offset by other programs and the Senate cleared $1.1 billion in new funding.
While the Senate proposal received bipartisan support, Pelosi said the $1.1 billion is still far too low.
“It’s $1.9 billion, that’s what the scientists tell us they need,” she said. “Why are we talking about a lower number?”
Pelosi also dinged the Senate proposal for adding the money through the normal appropriations process, which she said “takes a long time.”
The House and Senate haven’t announced plans to conference on the competing Zika proposals to reach a solution. Congress will leave on Thursday for the Memorial Day recess and not return until June 7.
Zika spreads via mosquito bites, but mosquitoes in the continental U.S. so far aren’t carrying the virus. Health officials believe that will change as more mosquitoes start to pop up this summer.
