Zika Funding Proposal Fails to Advance in Senate

Following hours of partisan banter, the GOP’s $1.1 billion Zika funding proposal failed to advance in the Senate by a 52-48 vote, eight shy of the required 60 votes to invoke cloture.

The conference report would have earmarked $315 million for research and development on fighting the Zika virus, and provided $230 million for the National Institutes of Health to support R&D for vaccines and diagnostic tests.

It faced pushback from Senate Democrats because it falls short of President Obama’s $1.9 billion dollar proposal to combat the virus. They also took issue with the bill drawing $750 million in funding from other programs, such as unused funding from the Ebola crisis.

The House approved the measure last week by a 239-171 vote.