The House of Representatives and the Senate returned to session Tuesday after a seven-week recess. While the House passed a bill to provide $1.1 billion in emergency funds to combat the spread of Zika, Democrats in the Senate quickly blocked the bill due to a GOP provision that would bar funding from supporting Planned Parenthood in the distribution of contraception to impede the sexual transmission of Zika.
“Give us an up-or-down vote, straight, on Zika,” Mr. Biden said during an event on Capitol Hill. “I understand attaching controversial issues to important legislation … but this is a national emergency. People’s health, the well-being of unborn children, the health of the country at large, is at stake. Act.”
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