Dennis Ross Unveils Ebola Control Bill

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., unveiled the Contain Ebola and Stop the Epidemic (CEASE) Act on Wednesday.

Ross's bill would give the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the ability to stop planes landing with passengers from nations impacted by Ebola. The proposal would also stop consular officers from issuing visas to those who come from Ebola-impacted nations or traveled through them. The travel and visa bans would be lifted when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determine the countries are free of Ebola.

Now that the United States is free of the Ebola virus disease, we must begin implementing a process that will keep our country safe from a potential future outbreak, Ross said on Wednesday. Craig Spencer, a doctor who helped treat Ebola patients in West Africa, returned home to New York to find he had become sick with the virus. Spencer was released from the hospital this week, but President Obamas Ebola czar, Ron Klain, told MSNBC, were going to see occasional additional cases of Ebola in our country. This is not the last one. Klains statement does not provide my constituents and I comfort.

If passed, I believe banning flights and banning the issuance of visas to those traveling from countries experiencing an Ebola epidemic will reduce the threat of an outbreak within our borders, Ross added. The CEASE Act will implement common-sense safeguards to protect American citizens from this deadly virus. Ebola is still devastating areas of Africa, especially in both Guinea and Sierra Leone, which is why we must keep our guard up. Until the CDC can ascertain that Ebola has been contained and eradicated overseas, we must be vigilant in keeping Americans safe by being proactive instead of reactive.