Senior Republicans Criticize Ebola 'Czar' Choice for Lack of Medical Background

Photo Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, APBy Fox News.

Senior Republicans on Capitol Hill Friday criticized Ron Klain, President Obama’s choice to be “Ebola czar,” as a figurehead with no health background.

“Given the mounting failings in the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak, it is right that the president has sought to task a single individual to coordinate its response, “said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “But I have to ask why the president didn’t pick an individual with a noteworthy infectious disease or public health background?”

Klain, a longtime political hand, served as chief of staff to Al Gore and Vice President Joe Biden but has no apparent medical or health care background.

A White House official said Friday that Klain comes to the job with “strong management credentials, extensive federal government experience overseeing complex operations and good working relationships with leading members of Congress, as well as senior Obama administration officials, including the president.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called him an “excellent choice.”

Read more from this story HERE.

____________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Associated PressObama Names Democratic Operative to Coordinate Ebola Response

By SABRINA TAVERNISE and MITCH SMITH.

President Obama named a trusted political adviser on Friday to take over the government’s response to the deadly Ebola virus, as health officials in two states worked to track a growing list of people who may have been exposed because of missteps in quarantine and containment.

The appointment of Ron Klain, a seasoned Democratic operative and White House veteran, spoke of the seriousness of the situation for the administration, which was eager to put the management of the crisis back on track in the midst of a tough election season. The response has been criticized as sloppy, with two intensive care nurses in a Dallas hospital falling ill after treating a Liberian, Thomas Eric Duncan, who eventually died from the virus. One of the nurses had been allowed to take a commercial flight despite telling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that she had a slight fever.

The appointment came a day after members of Congress lashed out at federal health officials and just hours after the disclosure by the State Department that yet another employee of the Dallas hospital, Texas Health Presbyterian, who had handled Ebola specimens in a lab, had traveled, boarding a Caribbean cruise ship. The government of Belize said the ship was in that country’s waters, but the authorities there have refused to allow American officials to evacuate the passenger. Mexico would not even allow the ship to dock, and it was headed back to Galveston, Tex., with the lab worker held in isolation. Officials said the risk of infection was very low, but the revelation deepened the impression that the administration was struggling to stay ahead of the virus and the public anxiety.

You might also like