http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/220983-travel-ban-dominates-ebola-hearingBy Elise Viebeck - 10/16/14 02:32 PM EDT
Debate over banning travel from West Africa dominated a House hearing on Ebola Thursday as Republicans clashed with federal health officials on the need to suspend flights.
"Administration officials still refuse to consider any travel restrictions for the more than 1,000 travelers a week entering the U.S. from Ebola hot zones," said Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
"Screening and self-reporting at airports have been a demonstrated failure, yet the administration continues to advance a contradictory reason for this failed policy that frankly doesn't make sense."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Thomas Frieden replied that banning travel would heighten Ebola's risk to Americans by pushing West Africans to enter the United States from countries where no screenings are in place or triggered once travelers reach the United States.
Under a barrage of questions from Murphy, Frieden said a travel ban will remain on the table along with "any options to better protect Americans." But he pushed back hard against the idea a ban would help.
"Right now, we know who is coming in," Frieden told lawmakers in the standing-room-only hearing.
"If we tried to eliminate travel … we won't be able to check them for fever when they leave. We won't be able to check for fever when they arrive. We won't be able to take a detailed travel history. We won't be able to obtain detailed locating information to pass it to local public health officials."
A Customs and Border Protection official agreed, saying a travel ban would make it harder for his agency to track possible Ebola cases.
"It is easier to manage and control it when we know where people are coming from voluntarily and not trying to deceive us," said said John Wagner, acting assistant commissioner in the Office of Field Operations.
Republicans have rallied behind the issue as a way to rebuke the Obama administration's handling of Ebola less than a month before the midterm elections.
Polls show that a majority of Americans support the idea of a travel ban, and House Republicans are beginning to show signs that they will emphasize the issue in the lame-duck session.
Separate from Thursday's hearing, Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) announced that he will soon introduce legislation to restrict flights.
The move came on the heels of a statement by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) saying the administration should "absolutely consider" a flight ban.
Ebola became top national news in late September when a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, traveled to Dallas and sought care for the virus.
Subsequent failures in his treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital have raised questions about the CDC's oversight of the response.
The spread of Ebola to two additional healthcare workers, both diagnosed in the last week, are only deepening concerns that the government and U.S. health system are not fully prepared to deal with highly infectious diseases.
Lawmakers in both parties criticized the government's response to Ebola on Thursday and called for significant improvements to stop its spread in Dallas and elsewhere.
“It would be an understatement to say that the response to the first U.S.-based patient has been mismanaged, causing risk to scores of additional people,” said subcommittee ranking member Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).
Two top Senate candidates — Reps. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) — left the campaign trail to attend the hearing and pose questions.
“I am greatly concerned … that the administration did not act fast enough when responding in Texas,” said Braley, who is locked in a tight race against Republican Joni Ernst.
Frieden, calm through the hearing, said concern about the Dallas cases is "understandable."
"The CDC works 24-7 to protect Americans … We're always open to new ideas," he said.
"There are no shortcuts in the control of Ebola and it is not easy to control it. To protect the United States, we have to stop it at the source."
