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April 28, 2016 at 10:32 AM
(Bloomberg View) — More than two months after the White House asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion to fight the Zika virus, Congress has yet to provide it. President Barack Obama, Republicans claim, has failed to explain in sufficient detail how his administration would spend the money.
Perhaps his 25-page proposal, sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan in February, got lost in interoffice mail. If so, no worries: There’s also a summary on the Web. Most of the money — about $1.5 billion — will go to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help states control the mosquito that carries the virus, expand programs to test for it, and work on developing a vaccine.
See also: Zika fight starts to bite Republicans ahead of mosquito season
The case for action now is overwhelming. The virus is active in central and South America, and come summer, the Zika-bearing Aedes aegypti mosquito will begin to spread the disease across much of the continental U.S. Pregnant women who contract the disease are at greater risk of giving birth to children who are stillborn, have microcephaly, or experience eye and brain lesions.
See also: Zika virus does cause birth defects
Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults, which can lead to paralysis.
Among the questions Republicans say remain unanswered is what portion of the money is needed for the current fiscal year. That level of detail wasn’t necessary in 2005 when President George W. Bush requested and received emergency funding from Congress to combat avian flu. Nor was it necessary in 2014 when Obama sought and received emergency funding to fight Ebola.
Republicans also argue that the federal government has enough money left over from the fight against the Ebola virus to deal with Zika, since Ebola is no longer a public health emergency. But the administration has already transferred $600 million in Ebola funds to fight Zika, and it claims that taking more from that effort could leave Americans exposed to another outbreak; there have been Ebola cases recently in Guinea and Liberia.
