House and Senate lawmakers are hoping to strike a compromise deal on Zika funding legislation that would be ready for a vote by mid-June, before the official start of summer and the mosquito season.
A top GOP aide told the Washington Examiner that Republicans plan to move swiftly when they return from the Memorial Day recess, and their goal is to try to clear a bill for President Obama’s desk “in the next two weeks,” after reconvening on June 7.
Each chamber has passed legislation for funding federal efforts to combat the mosquito-transmitted virus, but the two bills call for starkly different funding methods, leading some to believe a deal is far off and perhaps unreachable until July or even the fall.
But House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Thursday the legislation will not languish that long.
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Ryan said. “I don’t think at the rate it’s going now that timeline is the case.”
Republicans are under intense pressure to act quickly.
Summer is less than a month a way, when mosquitoes will be most active. While the hundreds of U.S. residents afflicted with Zika in the United States contracted the virus while traveling, health officials predict mosquito-bite transmission of the virus in the United States is imminent. The virus has been linked to severe birth defects and a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Republicans are eager to clear a Zika bill to end the almost-daily Democratic criticism over the lack of action on funding legislation.
Democrats staged a media event on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, urging Republicans to keep Congress in session until lawmakers pass a bill. And in the Senate, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of acting irresponsibly in not acting on an emergency funding bill.
“We need to act before local transmission starts occurring in the continental United States,” Reid said. “That’s going to be soon. This fall is too late. It’s time to act, not take a break.”
The differences between the House and Senate bill are significant.
The House bill would redirect $622 million in existing federal funding for use in combating the Zika virus. In the Senate, lawmakers passed legislation designating $1.1 billion in new funding for Zika.
House Republicans are determined to ensure any new spending is offset, which would complicate House passage of a compromise that involves new federal spending that adds to the deficit.
Federal health officials at this point are using $590 million in federal funds that had been designated for the now-receded Ebola virus, Republicans point out.
On Friday, House lawmakers took the first step toward a Zika deal when they voted to appoint eight members to serve on a conference committee with the Senate that will be tasked with taking the two measures and writing one bill that can pass both chambers relatively quickly.
The conference committee on Zika will initiate the first conversations about funding legislation held between House and Senate Republicans, who according to a GOP aide, have had “no substantial conversations at this point.”
