Senators are developing a bipartisan Zika funding proposal that could make it to the chamber’s floor soon.
Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said during an appropriations hearing Thursday that several subcommittees are working on a bipartisan Zika proposal. Congress and the White House have been battling over President Obama’s $1.9 billion emergency funding request.
It is not clear how much money the Senate would provide, but the movement comes after White House officials accused Republicans of politicizing the funding request.
Cochran said the appropriations committee has explored the issue.
“While it has been difficult to obtain the detailed information necessary to thoroughly evaluate the administration’s request, we recognize that there is an urgency associated with the threat,” he said in his opening statement during a hearing for two unrelated appropriations bills.
Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., have been working on the proposal, Cochran said.
The administration made the $1.8 billion request near the end of February, but Republicans rebuffed it. They asked for the administration to use money left over from fighting Ebola.
Eventually, the administration relented and appropriated $500 million to prepare for any outbreak of Zika. The virus has spread to more than 40 countries and territories, and there are 358 cases in the U.S. as of April 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, most of those cases are from people who recently traveled to a country where the virus is spreading via the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The virus has not spread through mosquito bites in the U.S., but the CDC believes that could change as summer approaches.
