On the recordApril 28, 2016
Mr. President, I want to start by thanking Senator Heitkamp for pulling us in here today to talk about this emergency and Senator Murray for her strong voice on this and many others who will be speaking out today. In 2014 Ebola broke out in West Africa. As it advanced, the international community came together to combat the outbreak. Doctors from around the world traveled to West Africa to set up emergency hospital units to help the sick and to attempt to contain the virus. President Obama deployed thousands of troops to support the effort. With the media focused on the outbreak right in the middle of the 2014 election, Republican Senators and Republican candidates across the country seized on this global health crisis. No, they didn't swoop in to rescue; in fact, Republicans did nothing to support the actual Ebola response before the elections. Instead, they terrified the American people with totally made-up stories of Ebola-infected immigrants coming across our southern border. They loudly trumpeted a number of dangerous and irresponsible solutions, such as travel bans that would actually make dealing with the problem more difficult. Ebola ravaged West Africa, but only four cases were ever diagnosed here in the United States. Republican politicians didn't care--they had found something to blame on President Obama and the Democrats, and they were happy to do it. They exploited the situation to help win an election. And it worked.…