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PRESS RELEASE -- ROKITA CALLS FOR GREATER PROTECTION FROM EBOLA THREAT
Oct 20, 2014 Issues: Defense and National Security
October 20, 2014
Contact: Brendan Thomas
Phone: (202) 225-0664
E-mail: brendan.thomas@mail.house.gov
ROKITA CALLS FOR GREATER PROTECTION FROM EBOLA THREAT
Washington, D.C. – Because the President has acted slowly to protect Americans, Representative Todd Rokita and bi-partisan members of the House and Senate have proposed practical solutions to stopping the spread of Africa’s deadly Ebola virus in the United States.
“Hoosiers, concerned about Ebola, as well as misleading information from the Administration, expect quicker action,” said Rokita. “I support a ban on flights from infected countries, visa suspensions, as well as stronger screenings at our ports of entry, including airports and border crossings.”
In August, the Congressman was one of the first to raise the possibility of a public health crisis, before two Dallas healthcare workers contracted Ebola from a foreign traveler. “The president stated Ebola was unlikely to reach the U.S. and failed to take precautions,” said Rokita. “When it did reach us, our hospitals were unprepared, and his Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] even permitted a nurse with symptoms to fly.”
“It’s time to restore confidence in our public health infrastructure, as other countries have done,” said the Congressman. “We need to do a much better job of monitoring who’s coming in and out of our country, and make sure our health care professionals have proper training to identify public health threats,” said Rokita.
The Congressman, a House Budget Committee member, added that the CDC and National Institutes of Health waste millions of taxpayer dollars researching massage techniques, for instance, rather than fatal diseases. Over the last five years, the two agencies have dedicated just six percent of the $3 billion they have received to epidemiology and laboratory capacity.
“While Ebola is out of control in Africa, federal spending here in the U.S. is out of control and jeopardizing our safety,” said the Rokita. “I’m committed to reforming federal bureaucracies that have forgotten their true purpose.”
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