Zika Funds Fail in Senate as Democrats Decry ‘Poison Pills’
- Cornyn says Democrats will be responsible for birth defects
- Republicans balked at $1.9 billion cost of White House request
A lab technician displays Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria in a test tube for a photograph at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 19, 2016.
This article is for subscribers only.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republicans’ plan to partially fund President Barack Obama’s request for funding to tackle the Zika virus and attach it to other items Democrats dismissed as partisan, setting off a bitter round of sniping ahead of the July 4th recess.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas called Democrats "sore losers" and said they, not Republicans, will pay a political price for blocking the $1.1 billion Zika funding package, which was to be attached to a funding bill for veterans and military construction.