Senate likely to advance $1.1 billion in Zika funding

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that pregnant women not travel to areas with Zika and that if they live in a Zika area to strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites and to prevent sexual transmission.

The White House and its Democratic allies have been sharply critical of Republicans controlling Congress over delays in providing additional funds, which they say is required for mosquito control, purchasing diagnostic tests and developing and manufacturing a vaccine.

House Republicans on Monday unveiled their Zika proposal, which would slice Obama's request to $622 million and pair it with offsetting spending cuts to unspent Ebola funding and leftover money at the Department of Health and Human Services.

An alternative Senate plan by Florida Democrat Bill Nelson and his home-state GOP colleague Marco Rubio that largely mirrors Obama's request is unlikely to overcome a filibuster, as is a GOP proposal by Texas Sen. John Cornyn that taps a prevention fund established under the Affordable Care Act to offset the Zika funding.