Political Quotes

“I rise today to draw attention to the growing risks of an Ebola epidemic in Central Africa and to urge the Senate to take up and pass S. 1340, my bipartisan bill authorizing USAID to combat the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This legislation passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June, and it is time for the full Senate to act. On July 17, the World Health Organization declared this Ebola outbreak a ``public health emergency of international concern,'' with experts predicting the outbreak will last well into 2020. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC, as it is known, has been battling an Ebola outbreak for exactly 1 year as of today. Despite the best efforts of the Congolese, the World Health Organization, and international partners, this outbreak is now the second worst in history. More than 1,800 people are dead and more than 2,600 confirmed and probable cases have been identified. It took just over 7 months to reach 1,000 cases of Ebola, but only 2 months to reach 2,000. According to the World Health Organization, up to 25 percent of all infections may be going unreported. The scope of the outbreak continues to grow. Just today, press reports indicate that there is a third case in the city of Goma, home to over 1 million people. Imagine the consequences of an unrestrained outbreak in a city of over 1 million people.…”