Press Release

Friday, October, 17, 2014

Price on Obama’s Ebola Czar: “An unserious gesture at an incredibly serious moment.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06) issued the following statement on President Obama’s appointment of Ron Klain as his new Ebola czar:

“That the president chose a political operative rather than a health care expert to head up his administration’s response to an outbreak of a deadly disease says a lot – and nothing positive – about the White House’s line of thinking. The American people are losing what little, if any, confidence they had left in President Obama’s ability to tackle the myriad of challenges facing our nation. That’s particularly dangerous when the issue is public health. Rather than focusing on restoring that confidence, the president is making an unserious gesture at an incredibly serious moment.

“Rather than putting another person in charge, President Obama needs to task every agency already involved in this crisis – those with real medical expertise and crisis management – with reviewing existing policies and protocols to determine what’s effective, what’s ineffective and what more should be done to stop the expansion of the Ebola outbreak abroad and protect Americans here at home. Part of that review ought to focus on a plan to deny entry to those traveling from the nations where this outbreak began and introducing a period of quarantine for those suspected of having been exposed to this deadly disease.”

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