From the office of Congressman Andy Harris:
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Andy Harris, M.D., participated in the hearing on Ebola by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As a physician, Congressman Harris understands the threat posed by Ebola and that if we put in place proper protocols and protections how the spreading can stop. During the hearing, Congressman Harris became increasingly convinced that some level of travel ban needs to be put in place.
Congressman Harris released the following statement:
“The Administration should impose some level of travel ban pending the creation of protocols that will protect healthcare workers and all Americans. Because current protocols are not working, we must limit the ability of individuals traveling from infected areas to enter the United States. In addition, the FDA needs to remove bureaucratic red tape to get vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests for Ebola available to the public as soon as possible. We can stop significant spreading of this disease, but it is going to require protocols that actually work being put in place and all healthcare workers remaining incredibly diligent.”
Never been a better time to have such an incompetent President.
Every one of you dopes who voted for him are responsible for what is about to happen
Last time I checked, the President didn’t have the Authority to just close off our borders without congressional approval. Seems that Obama gets blamed for just about everything he has no control over. Republican rhetoric is out of control…….
You should probably check again….
2010 CDC Quarintine Reg change.
Out of control? Did he not say just a few short weeks ago the it was unlikely the Ebola makes it to our shores? That the cdc is ready if it does?
Yeah, your right, He had total control over that?!?! Get real…….
Apparently, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the CDC are who makes the decisions, not the president. http://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/aboutlawsregulationsquarantineisolation.html
The Surgeon General can also, but we don’t have one of those because of congressional blocks on appointees made by Obama. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title42/html/USCODE-2011-title42-chap6A-subchapII-partG-sec264.htm
You can’t blame Obama for everything, but he can issue an executive order to quarantine in an extreme emergency. The last time a large scale quarantine was done was in 1918-1919 during the Spanish flu epidemic. People were dropping all around. So far Ebola has claimed one life here in the states, that’s not an epidemic.
I don’t blame Obama for Ebola SC, however he is at fault for his complete lack of leadership in this matter, being behind on preparation even though he claimed readiness, and being wrong every step of the way thus far.
Anyway the DAGGER is once again moderating comments with website links. The Secretary of Health and the CDC make the decisions, not Obama. Obama could use an Executive Order to quarantine, but the last time this happened was in 1918-19 during the Spanish Flu epidemic. We have had one death on US soil from Ebola, that’s not an epidemic. Everyone should thank the DAGGER for moderating links from the CDC, I guess it doesn’t go along with the Dagger’s Republican Agenda…….
The president sets the tone for how the federal government works by appointing his subordinates and the heads of the various departments. But since those are usually cronies or big donors it’s not difficult to see why they’re typically as effective as a cardboard hammer. Arrogant incompetence at the top filters down through the ranks and the lack of accountability stokes the flames. I really can’t think of a downside to restricting travel and I agree with others that understand if this stuff hits south of our border we will see illegals pour in across the border like we’ve never seen before. But, it’s comforting that no matter how bad things get I can always count on true partisan liberals to sooner chug a bottle of Ebola before even entertaining the possibility that electing a rank amateur to lead the world super power may have been just a bit of a mistake… or that there’s anything the federal government can’t save us from.
If you put a travel ban up, people will find a way to illegally get here. Is that what you want? To not have any idea that an illegal with Ebola entered this country. Right now, everything is open and transparent, banning travel will lead to everything being closed and opaque. I guess your answer for everything is to build a wall around this country and sit behind it. You shouldn’t let fear drive policies…..
Banning travel gives us what we need… Time
Isolate Ebola. Fight it in Africa.
You and the President share the same arrogance and you are both going to kill a lot of people.
I’m gonna kill’em with my keyboard? What drugs are you on?
He does have the authority to put a temporary halt on air travel between West Africa and the US. If he did, Europe, Canada and the rest would likely follow and it would isolate this disease to limit the potential risks beyond those 3 countries in Africa where it is concentrated.
Refresh my memory how did the guy get here again? Did he fly here from West Africa or Europe?
Apparently, he came directly from Liberia….. http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-patient-thomas-eric-duncans-love-story-162328179.html
He pit stopped in Belgum
I stand corrected…..Brussels is where his flight pit stopped….http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/01/us/retracing-the-steps-of-the-dallas-ebola-patient.html?_r=0
You are aware there are no direct flights from West Africa to the U.S.?
There are no regular scheduled nonstop airline flights from West Africa to the United States. A direct flight would include an aircraft that makes a stop but the same aircraft continues on to the US. Currently, Delta flies from New York to Dakar, Senegal which is located in West Africa, but not one of the countries with an ebola outbreak.
No, I was unaware.
Actually Senegal was part of the epidemic but the WHO declar d it ov r there as they have not had a case in 45 days.
We can militarize police departments but can’t provide protective gear for nurses.
Way to go Andy….. were you really a doctor?
Agreed….
We could always use our brilliant star wars apparatus and install a magic shield over the continental USA and a couple smaller ones over Alaska, Hawaii, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and our beloved other state Israel in Palestine! We could blow Eastern Africa off the map or transport a few Ebola virus strands over ISIS and then we could have one of our aircraft carriers with a banner saying “Mission Accomplished”. We could just declare the virus illegal and blame it on Mexico too?
What a Idiot post
How will you handle broken travel?
This is why we need a Surgeon General to educate people!
We have one. Rear Admiral Boris Lushniak
No we don’t, Sen Paul has a hold on the nominee for almost a year!
Cdev, I think he was being sarcastic……
Confirming the new surgeon general requires a simple majority vote since the Democrats changed the rules in the Senate. Harry Reid has not called for a vote to confirm Obamas nominee because he can’t even get the votes he needs in the Senate.
Libs like to blame the NRA, Rand Paul and the Republicans for another unacceptable candidate from Obama.
Lushniak is the acting surgeon general.
Let’s look more closely at what is going on in West Africa rather than just the US. Here are a couple rational questions
1. How come Ivory Coast has not had one single case reported in their country, even though they border Liberia, the highest infected country of all?
2. Where are the pictures and videos in the media of kids and people in west africa bleeding out of their eyes and suffering with ebola? We can see kids being blown up in the middle east by war on tv news, but not poor people in west africa who are sick?
3. Only the US has had cases of Ebola, along with poor Spain?
4. How come the infection growth rate does not fit the standard model curve that typically happens with flu or ebola in the past?
5. Why has the US sent over 3,000 troops to west africa to “fight” ebola (with guns?), but less than a couple hundred contractors to Middle East to fight ISIL?
If this was truly a crisis, many other countries in the EU would have shut down their borders already, there are other motives at play here. The Republicans are just taking advantage of this “crisis” to smear Obama and Obamacare to help with elections. The Democrats are trying to impose further restrictions on its citizens while also securing new found natural resources in West Africa.
“The FDA needs to remove bureaucratic red tape to get vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests for Ebola available to the public as soon as possible.”
Oh, Andy… First, there is no Ebola vaccine. Second, existing tests for Ebola require lab analysis so I’m not really sure what making them publicly available would accomplish. Lastly, treatment and diagnostics are already available at hospitals. You know, the place you would be going if you suspected that you had Ebola?
Can we get this guy out of office already? He’s useless.
Agreed….
Andy will be reelected. A great majority of the voters in his district are very satisfied with his representation.
Thanks for the Ebola, illegal aliens, obamacare, 5 trillion in new debt, crappy school lunches, nsa spying, irs lost emails, and the continued recession.
Keep up the good work Mr. Golfer & Chief.
Illegal aliens were coming into this country before Obama was elected. School lunches have always been crappy. The NSA has been spying since they were created, after all they were created to spy. The IRS has been deleting their e-mails ever since they had e-mails, it was their policy to delete them after 6 months. The continued recession could have been avoided if both political parties would work together. The 5 Trillion in debt can also be blamed on a do nothing Congress, that had to approve the budget before the money was spent. Ebola would have eventually made it here, kinda the same way AIDS made it to the US and you didn’t blame that Republican president for that. You got me on ObamaCare, after all that is his design. Many Americans are thanking him for this. You can blame all you want, but your reasoning is flawed for the most part. I’m not a Republicunt or a Dumbocrat. Yet, I do not blame someone for every problem I can think of because I hate the fact that our president isn’t of a certain race I choose. George Bush Sr. went on vacation for 25 days after deploying troops to Iraq. George Bush Jr. denounced a suicide bombing then went on to say, “now watch my Drive.”, as he tee’d off on a drive. You got some serious issues, are you sure your name isn’t Marc Eaton?
Your entire post is a false parity. And then to play the race card? You’re a joke.
Yeah, well I was responding to a plagiarized post of a Sarah Palin speech so I decided to go all Al Sharpton on you. That is what you wanted to hear? I’m not affiliated with any party, just calling them as I see them……
Thanks to the REPUBLICANS we have Ebolia, low wages, racial tensión, a do nothing congress, trillion of dollars in debt and soldiers in Jaén way.
Thank you Tea Party.