Ebola is a health crisis. Yet the President has appointed as his new Ebola ‘czar’ a partisan loyalist whose expertise is politics—not health. One would think, faced with the prospect of an epidemic, the President would task an expert in epidemiology not an expert in political spin. Sound bites are not going to deter a single infection or save a single life. The American people can have zero confidence in Ron Klain’s competence to carry out this critical role.
At the senior levels of this government, in positions of extraordinary responsibility, the President has surrounded himself with loyalists—individuals who were selected precisely because they are not independent, will not tell the President ‘no’, and will not have any problem in feeding bogus political spin to the media.
The President’s Director of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell, was promoted after refusing to answer even those most basic financial questions from Congress during her dismal tenure at the Office of Management and Budget. Burwell, a former campaign operative, was tasked with overseeing the nation’s healthcare system despite no consequential health care experience. Secretary Jeh Johnson was chosen to head the one of the largest and most important departments of government despite being a political lawyer with no relevant background. Johnson has devoted his short tenure not to strengthening enforcement but dismantling it. Just today—as American citizens face a jobs crisis, debt crisis, border crisis, security crisis, and now a health crisis—Secretary Johnson announced actions not to restore gutted enforcement, but further steps to open our borders. DHS is now extending what amounts to a perpetual amnesty to thousands of immigrants from Honduras and Nicaragua, while expediting immigration from Haiti at a time when we can’t keep track of the millions we are already admitting.
The danger at this moment is profound. We need to be barring visas and travel from Ebola-impacted regions. Additionally, should there be an outbreak in Latin America, General John Kelly of SOUTHCOM has warned that it would cause a ‘mass migration’ from Latin America of those seeking free medical treatment in the United States. ‘If it breaks out, it’s literally Katie bar the door,’ he warned. Does anyone believe that this Administration is prepared to protect this country from such a scenario?
The Administration continues to refuse to implement even the most commonsense immigration controls to protect public health and public tax dollars. Mr. Klain’s appointment, unfortunately, suggests things will get worse—not better.
Jeff Sessions represents the state of Alabama in the United States Senate
