[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE EBOLA CRISIS

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of 
my remarks at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 
Committee hearing yesterday be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   Ebola in West Africa: A Global Challenge and Public Health Threat

       We must take the dangerous, deadly threat of Ebola as 
     seriously as we take ISIS. Let me say that again: We must 
     take the dangerous, deadly threat of the Ebola epidemic as 
     seriously as we take ISIS. I think I have a reputation as a 
     senator who's not given to overstatement; I don't believe 
     that's an overstatement.
       The spread of this disease deserves a more urgent response 
     from our country and other countries around the world than 
     it's now getting. This is one of the most explosive, deadly 
     epidemics in modern time but we know what to do to reduce the 
     spread. It will require a huge and immediate response.
       There is no known cure; there's no vaccine. Half of those 
     who get sick die. Each sick person, according to the Centers 
     for Disease Control and Prevention, could infect up to 20 
     others, including caregivers, friends and family. Samantha 
     Power, the U.N. Ambassador, said to me earlier this week in a 
     briefing she's trying to get other countries to view this 
     with the same urgency that we do.
       This is an instance, she said, when we should be running 
     toward the burning flames with our fireproof suits on. Ebola 
     is killing people in West Africa at alarming rates and 
     picking up speed. It's hard to say exactly what the number of 
     cases is. There is an official number, a little less than 
     5,000 of Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, 
     but the worry is that one-half of those cases were reported 
     in the last three weeks. You don't have to know very much 
     about mathematics to know that if--whatever the number--if it 
     doubles every three weeks that very soon we have an out-of-
     control epidemic. And we can see easily what would happen if 
     a single infected traveler reaches another country and begins 
     to infect others in that country.
       I said earlier, and we'll learn more today, about what we 
     know how to do. We'll hear from a doctor who has contracted 
     Ebola and who has recovered from it and who is here to talk 
     about it. It's not like the flu. It can only be spread by 
     bodily fluids, often contracted by caring for someone who's 
     sick or through burial practices.
       But with global travel, we're only one airplane ride away 
     from a person exposed to Ebola getting on a plane to the 
     United States and then becoming sick once they arrive. And 
     then the mathematics of that infection could begin to develop 
     in this country.
       There's human tragedy in Africa, but it affects the rest of 
     the world and it affects the United States. Our state is 
     known as the Volunteer State. And Dr. Brantly is an Ebola 
     patient. He was working for Samaritan's Purse. He's not a 
     Tennessean, but his parents are graduates of Lipscomb 
     University, which is in Nashville. He, like many Americans, 
     goes on mission trips around the world to help people who 
     need help.
       I will support the administration's request for the $30 
     million Senator Harkin talked about, and the $58 million for 
     the biomedical advanced research and development. That's for 
     vaccines and cures and treatments. That should pass this 
     week.
       There's a request to address $500 million of reprogramming 
     in the Defense Department. Some have asked, why should our 
     military be involved? Because they have to be involved if we 
     want to deal with the problem. There's no way for the doctors 
     and the nurses and the health care workers to deal with it.
       So I'm pleased that on both sides of the aisle, we have 
     leaders who are beginning to recognize the severity of this 
     epidemic. Dr. Frieden and U.N. Ambassador Power are taking 
     the lead. We look forward to learning all we can about the 
     severity of the epidemic and what we must do to control it.
       But I'll end where I started. We must take the deadly, 
     dangerous threat of the Ebola epidemic as seriously as we 
     take ISIS.

                          ____________________