Cruz: Congress Needs to Reconvene to Pass Flight Ban

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted the Obama administration for refusing to ban flights from countries with massive outbreaks of the Ebola virus and urged Congress to reconvene to pass a flight ban on Thursday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Cruz reported that he wrote a letter to the FAA two weeks ago suggesting that they ban flights from Ebola-ravaged countries, but “unfortunately, the Obama administration has not responded in over two weeks, and this is a serious public health threat.”

He further criticized the federal government’s approach to the spread of the Ebola virus and urged Congress should take action to ban flights, saying “the approach of the Obama administration so far has been like its approach to many other things, fundamentally unserious. And the time has come to ban commercial air travel from countries that have an active Ebola outbreak. The arguments the administration is giving against it don’t make any sense…and if the president won’t act, then Congress should reconvene, and Congress should act to protect the American people.”

Cruz stated that he was “encouraging” other elected officials to support the ban.  Cruz expressed that he was “encouraged” by the increased support that a flight ban had received, declaring that “in the last two weeks you’ve seen more and more elected leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, arriving at this common sense position, a basic principle of prudence: let’s protect Americans. That ought to bring everyone together.”

He added that, “the arguments that the Obama administration is giving [against a flight ban], they don’t make any sense. So, for example, one argument they’re giving is they say that they’ve implemented screenings at five airports. Now, that’s a positive step. But, the problem is screenings only work if someone is demonstrating symptoms. Since Ebola has up to a 21-day incubation period, if someone is not demonstrating symptoms, the screenings are ineffective.”

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