In blocked Zika funding, familiar fights emerge

Not even the growing summer threat of the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus could break through congressional gridlock over federal spending, which has increasingly paralyzed the legislative branch.

Senate Democrats and one Republican voted last week to block a $1.1 billion measure that would have provided the federal government with funding needed to kill mosquitos and develop a vaccine for Zika, which causes severe birth defects and neurological damage.