Republican lawmakers calling for an end to Tom Frieden’s tenure as director of the Centers for Disease Control Director.
Amid news that a second nurse contracted Ebola in Dallas, Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said Frieden should go on Wednesday.
“This Ebola situation is beginning to spiral beyond control,” Marino said in a statement. “The reports my colleagues and I have received are utterly unacceptable and the information provided to the public has been cryptic and in some cases misleading. This has provided a false sense of security to many of our citizens. That is exactly the opposite of the CDC Director’s primary responsibilities – to communicate clearly and honestly. I have no ill will towards him personally but he should resign his position effective immediately.”
Marino said that President Barack Obama needs to appoint an experienced person solely in charge of dealing with Ebola, one who will also move to put travel bans on the West African countries affected by Ebola.
“President Obama cannot tell the American people, as he has so often, that he underestimated this threat – we must get this right,” he said.
Sessions, appearing on Laura Ingraham’s radio show Wednesday also said Frieden should be relieved of his duties.
“My opinion is yes,” Sessions said, according to the Dallas Morning News, when asked if Frieden should be fired.
According to the Dallas Morning News’ report, Sessions has called for a travel ban as well and said that when he spoke with Frieden about imposing such restrictions the CDC director referred Sessions to an article he wrote two weeks earlier.
“I said … ‘That was academic. That was before now,'” Sessions told to Ingraham. “They still have not come up with a better answer.”
Frieden is scheduled to appear before a House panel to testify about the outbreak Thursday.
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