Zika Legislation Continues To Stall

Now that congress has completed their seven week vacation they are once again debating particular measures outlined in the bill to grant funding to Zika relief. The new bill calls for 1.1 billion dollars be used to study and contain the virus.

This is the third time the bill to fight Zika has failed to pass. This time around it is the democrats who were responsible for halting legislation. The democrats took issue with the loosening of environmental regulations in order to use insecticides more liberally. The democrats also opposed the bill’s wording that suggested that Planned Parenthood would be denied funding to fight Zika in Puerto Rico where the virus is widespread.

Despite all of the bickering over the bill’s wording, many members of congress, both democrat and republican, are optimistic that agreements will be made and the bill will pass soon.

Do you think this bill will ever actually pass and what kinds of changes might have to be made to the bill before it is fully accepted?