Public health officials are using White House talking points in trying to calm fears over a potential Ebola outbreak in the United States, says Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Like many of his fellow Republicans and a growing number of Democrats, Cruz wants a travel ban imposed on people leaving three West African countries currently dealing with Ebola outbreaks.
"The Obama White House is digging in not listening to the voices of common sense coming from both sides of the aisle," Cruz said Sunday on CNN's
"State of the Union."
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, argues that a travel ban would only hurt the effort because the United States would lose track of who is flying into the United States. And people might even try to sneak across U.S. border with Mexico to get in, he testified before a congressional committee last week.
Cruz told CNN that excuse doesn't make any sense. Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who had the first case of Ebola diagnosed inside the United States, evaded those screening techniques when he lied on a questionnaire, Cruz said.
Cruz also said that a travel ban would not prevent aid workers from flying into affected countries to help.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told host Candy Crowley that no one in the medical profession is repeating White House talking points.
"I've never had an experience where a president is telling you to tell him something that he wants to hear," Fauci said. "They just ask, what is your opinion about this?"
Cruz also said he is unimpressed with President Barack Obama's choice of an "Ebola czar," political operative Ron Klain
"We should be less concerned about giving the public the feeling that the government is on top of this and more concerned about the government actually being on top of it," Cruz said.
On other subjects:
Cruz said Kurdish Peshmerga forces are willing to act as America's "boots on the ground" in the fight against ISIS, and should be used as such.
On the GOP's chances of winning a majority in the Senate in the November 4 midterm elections: "Nothing is certain in politics, but I think it is far more likely than not that we'll retake the Senate and retire Harry Reid."
On the possibility Obama will nominate a new attorney general who would be voted on between the election and a new Senate being sworn in: "Under no circumstances should a partisan attorney general be rammed through in a lame duck session."
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