Congress struggles to come to a deal on Zika virus funds

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May 20, 2016

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Congress struggles to come to a deal on Zika virus funds

Both houses of Congress approved two very different measures to fund the Zika virus, and both fall short of the almost $2 billion President Obama asked for in February.

Zika is primarily spread through this mosquito species, Aedes aegypti.

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Both houses of Congress approved two very different measures to fund the Zika virus, and both fall short of the almost $2 billion President Obama asked for in February.

Congress has been criticized for its slow response to the Zika virus, especially as mosquito season approaches in the U.S.

This week, both houses of Congress approved two very different measures to fund the fight and both fall far short of the almost $2 billion President Obama asked for in February.

On Thursday, the Senate approved its $1.1. billion plan, almost double of the House's $622 million standalone measure.

For more on this, we turned to Molly Reynolds, fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution.