Tom Rooney Wants Answers From Obama on Ebola

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., sent a letter to President Barack Obama and members of his administration, asking what they plan to do to combat Ebola. Besides Obama, Rooney wrote U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden.

Rooney ripped Obamas handling of Ebola and the current crisis in the Middle East and called for Congress to return to Washington to tackle the matters.

The United States now faces two very different but grave national security threats the spread of Ebola from West Africa and the growth of IS in the Middle East, Rooney said on Tuesday. President Obama should present comprehensive response plans and authorization requests to combat these crises to Congress and the American people, and we should return to D.C. promptly to debate and vote on them.

My constituents are afraid, and few have confidence that the administrations response has been sufficient, Rooney added. Whats the next step to prevent exposing Americans to the disease? Why isnt the administration at least restricting tourist travel to and from Ebola-stricken countries? How do we account for individuals that arent stopped for screening or pass airport screening procedures because theyre not yet exhibiting symptoms? No one wants to stop humanitarian and medical assistance from reaching West Africa, but I fail to see any national security or humanitarian reason for allowing high-risk individuals like Mr. Duncan to enter our country for purely tourist reasons while the disease is uncontained.

Rooney called for limiting travel to Ebola-impacted nations in Africa and wanted answers on how the various federal agencies are handling matters.

Rather than issuing an outright refusal on further travel restrictions to and from West Africa, the U.S. should explore every feasible and available option to restrict all non-essential travel, Rooney wrote.