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Money set aside to fight the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus is running low, and some funds could run out by the end of August, according to a letter to House Democrats from Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services shifted $374 million from other programs to fight Zika in the U.S., with $222 million allocated to the Centers for Disease Control. The funds have rapidly been depleted during the summer mosquito season. The National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority are both expected to run out of funds by the end of the month, and other funds will be depleted by the end of the year, Burwell said. (Snell, 8/3)

“The department is committed to using scarce federal dollars aggressively and prudently, especially in light of Congress’ inaction to provide any additional resources and the uncertainty around whether Congress will provide resources in the future,” [Burwell] said, referring to the partisan gridlock that has so far prevented lawmakers from sending the Zika spending legislation to the White House. (McCrimmon, 8/3)

Republicans have been downplaying the urgency of the issue, questioning why the administration has not spent more than $350 million already on hand, including money redirected from the Ebola fight. Burwell's letter gives a detailed accounting. The Centers for Disease Control has $222 million available for domestic response including front-line assistance to states and localities. Of that, nearly $100 million will have been provided by week's end, and resources will be virtually exhausted by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, the letter says. (Werner, 8/3)

The Obama administration says it has filled the entirety of Florida’s request for help fighting the Zika virus, even as Sen. Marco Rubio asks the White House to do more for his state. HHS has sent more than $8 million to help Florida respond to the Zika virus. Fifteen Floridians have gotten the virus through local mosquitoes, but more than 300 residents have gotten Zika through travel or sexual transmission. (Haberkorn, 8/3)

As the Zika virus escalates into a public health crisis, members of Congress remain entrenched politically, with Republicans and Democrats pointing fingers over the failure to act as the number of mosquito-transmitted cases in the U.S. grows. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell warned lawmakers on Wednesday that her budget for fighting Zika is running out quickly. Without more money fast, she said, the “nation’s ability to effectively respond to Zika will be impaired.” Yet lawmakers left Washington in mid-July for a seven-week recess without approving any of the $1.9 billion President Barack Obama requested in February to develop a vaccine and control the mosquitoes that carry the virus. (Lardner, 8/4)

Sen. Marco Rubio called on both political parties in Washington to do more to fight the Zika virus, but he was almost mum Wednesday when asked about why his party’s presidential nominee has essentially said nothing about the disease now that it’s spreading in Miami and throughout Florida. ... When questioned more about why he wouldn’t discuss Trump’s position on Zika, Rubio noted he hadn’t either mentioned the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. But Clinton since March made it a priority issue and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, took the time at a campaign stop in Daytona Beach to call out Trump for not talking about the disease. (Caputo, 8/3)

Donald Trump campaigned in two Florida cities Wednesday without addressing growing public health concerns over an outbreak of locally borne Zika infections in the state. And when pressed by a local reporter for his plan to combat the virus, which two days earlier prompted the Centers for Disease Control to warn people from traveling to a Miami neighborhood, Trump demurred. He simply saying that the state's Republican governor is doing a "fantastic job" and "seems to have it under control." (Diamond, 8/3)