The U.S. Senate on Tuesday again rejected a Zika funding bill that the House passed in June.
The 52–46 vote marks the third time the Senate has rejected the Republican-led measure, which Democrats oppose because it contains restrictions on Planned Parenthood. It needs 60 votes to advance.
“Let's stop this monkey business,” Sen. Bill Nelson said on the Senate floor prior to the vote. “Let's stop these political games. Let's stop these political riders. Let's do what the Senate did three months ago when it passed – bipartisan by 69 votes – $ 1.1 billion in emergency funding, and send it down to the House and tell the House to stop playing these games.”
The Senate passed a $1.1 billion bill in May, but Republicans in the House attached partisan measures - such as the Planned Parenthood restriction - before voting on it and sending it back to the Senate.
