"WASHINGTON -- The first officially reported death in the United States from Zika-related complications, a 70-year-old man in Puerto Rico, intensifies a partisan battle on Capitol Hill over $1.9 billion in emergency funds blocked for two months by Republicans.

With Florida claiming the highest number of cases of the deadly virus, lawmakers from the Sunshine State pushed GOP leaders to take up the appropriations supplemental bill that President Barrack Obama sent to Congress two months ago.

'The death of an American citizen should serve as a wake-up call to all those in Congress who continue to block our efforts to stop the spread of this virus,'Sen. Bill Nelson said Friday. 'While this may be the first Zika-related death in our country, it won’t be the last if Congress does not start taking this virus seriously.'"

James Rosen reports for the McClatchy Washington Bureau May 2, 2016. [2]