Not again! After being for a travel ban, then changing her position to say such restrictions would not work, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) is back on board with a travel ban.
“I am calling on the Administration to temporarily ban the travel of non-U.S. citizens from the affected countries in West Africa,” Hagan, who is running for reelection, said in a statement Friday.
“Although stopping the spread of this virus overseas will require a large, coordinated effort with the international community, a temporary travel ban is a prudent step the President can take to protect the American people, and I believe he should do so immediately,” she added.
Earlier in the week Hagan praised the Centers for Disease Control for it’s Ebola guidance and said that a travel ban — which her Republican challenger state House Speaker Thom Tillis has been calling for — would not solve the issue.
“That’s not going to help solve this problem,” Hagan said Wednesday when asked about a travel ban. “That’s not going to contain the epidemic that we see happening in Africa.”
However last week, during a debate Hagan signaled support for a travel ban.
“Travel bans should be part of the overall strategy, but it can’t be the only part. By doing just isolating the flights from those countries, isn’t going to help solve that problem,” she said then.
Nevertheless according to Hagan, she has “said for weeks that travel restrictions should be one part of a broad strategy to prevent Ebola from spreading in the U.S. and fighting it in Africa.”