WASHINGTON — US Senate Democrats blocked a $1.1 billion bill to combat the Zika virus for a third time on Tuesday after Republicans inserted provisions that would end funding for a major abortion provider. "Rather than continuing to work with Democrats, Republicans decided to appease a group so extreme that they didn’t even want Zika funding to begin with," he said in a statement. "It’s hard to explain why, despite their own calls for funding, Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that would keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika," he said on the Senate floor before reintroducing the previously blocked measure. The funding is now expected to be included in a bipartisan stopgap spending bill later this month. In the absence of a funding bill, the White House has been redirecting funds earmarked to fight Ebola, cancer and other diseases.

Source: Viet Nam News September 07, 2016 01:07 UTC