Schumer: Congress Must Return To Washington To Vote On Zika Bill
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says Congress must return to Washington to take up emergency funding to combat the Zika virus.
Schumer says Congress would be lazy and selfish not to come back from recess if only for one day to vote on a $1.9 billion emergency funding bill to combat Zika, WCBS 880's Stephanie Colombini reported.
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Schumer says a Zika vaccine has been developed, but it needs to go through expensive clinical trials to ensure there are no side effects before distributing to the public.
"But unfortunately because Congress hasn't allocated the money, the trial on this vaccine is going to come to a screeching halt and we won't have a vaccine," Schumer said.
Schumer says he made his request in a letter to House and Senate leadership.
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State officials say there have been 537 confirmed cases of Zika in New York so far, though all appear to be connected to travel to affected areas.
The speech comes on the heels of a U.S. travel warning for Miami where Zika is being spread locally by mosquitoes.
Congress is now scheduled to reconvene in September.
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