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House, Senate GOP seals agreement on $1.1B Zika measure

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Doctors speaking at a U.N. meeting on Global Health Crises said Monday, June 20, 2016, that the Zika virus has already affected 60 countries on four continents and a major outbreak on the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde suggests the disease is now poised to enter continental Africa. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Doctors speaking at a U.N. meeting on Global Health Crises said Monday, June 20, 2016, that the Zika virus has already affected 60 countries on four continents and a major outbreak on the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde suggests the disease is now poised to enter continental Africa. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – House and Senate Republicans have reached agreement on a $1.1 billion measure to combat the Zika virus, but the measure is certain to draw opposition from Democrats and is unlikely to make it through the Senate.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., announced the agreement as he headed into a closed-door meeting of House Republicans and its release was slated for later in the day. The Zika measure was one of the topics for discussion, though more attention was focused on how Republicans would respond to a floor protest by Democrats demanding votes on gun-related legislation.

An infection by the Zika virus can cause grave birth defects. The $1.1 billion figure is the amount the Senate approved last month. The measure calls for $750 million in spending cuts to offset the funding for Zika efforts, including $543 million in unused funds from implementation of President Barack Obama’s health care law and $107 million in cuts to leftover Ebola funding.

One of the provisions opposed by Democrats blocks funds in the measure from going to Planned Parenthood for birth control services for women at risk of becoming infected with the virus. The measure also contains a provision backed by the House that would ease rules on pesticide permitting requirements.

“Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Republicans try to leverage a public health crisis to roll back access to health care for women and ram through an ideological agenda,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Republicans are so controlled by their hard right that they are incapable of working with Democrats to solve a public health crisis and actually govern the country.”