WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor Thursday morning, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, called for a stronger response from the United States to the Ebola outbreak and humanitarian crisis in West Africa.

“This is a manageable public health crisis that we know how to solve, but doing so requires our focus, our attention, our resolve, and our resources — tools that only the United States has,” Senator Coons said. “It’s critical the United States has one leadership point – that the White House designate a coordinator to oversee the United States’ whole-of-government emergency response. There are many ways the U.S. is currently helping across many agencies – from the Department of Defense, to the Centers for Disease Control, to the State Department and USAID – and those agencies are doing great work as part of the Disaster Assistance Response Team on the ground. But at a time when the U.S. government is also facing and addressing crises in Iraq, and Ukraine, and elsewhere, I think we need one organizer — one coordinator — one responsible figure addressing this crisis, who is appointed by the White House to coordinate all of our resources and all of the people necessary for the U.S. government for this growing effort.”

Senator Coons praised the Administration’s announcement that the Defense Department would build a 25-bed hospital facility for the treatment of Liberian medical workers, and that it would help provide logistical support for the distribution of equipment and supplies. After acknowledging concern about the time it will take for that deployment to be mobilized, he called for an expanded U.S. military mission to provide additional logistics.

“This is also not everything we can and should be doing,” Senator Coons said. “We need to build more field hospitals for civilians in Liberia and beyond, so there are facilities for health workers and for civilians fighting the disease. We also can and should provide airlift of supplies from private donors. I’ve heard from organizations that have worked to transport donated supplies and can fill cargo plane after cargo plane, but are having difficulty getting it all to West Africa.”

In his speech Thursday, Senator Coons called for:

  • The White House to appoint a coordinator to manage the United States’ whole-of-government response to this Ebola outbreak, overseeing the management of U.S. personnel and resources dedicated to this effort.
  • The Department of Defense to increase its commitment by building field hospitals for those infected with the virus, by offering airlift services for privately donated supplies and equipment, and by increasing its coordination with regional and other militaries capable of supporting the effort.
  • The American people to donate to the NGOs currently working on the ground to stop the crisis by going to www.usaid.gov/ebola
  • American medical professionals to volunteer to go to West Africa to supplement strained local health systems and treat those infected with the virus.
  • Congressional fulfillment of President Obama’s request for $88 million in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Health and Human Services for the development of a treatment and vaccine for the virus.
  • Increased Congressional support for strengthening government and economic institutions in West Africa strained by the disease.
  • Senate confirmation of the President’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone, John Hoover. His nomination has been pending for eight months.

“Here’s the bottom line – we have what it takes to halt the spread of Ebola in West Africa and to save tens, if not hundreds of thousands of lives in the process,” Senator Coons said. “And unlike other foreign interventions, doing so will take neither bullets nor bombs, but rather our willingness, our compassion, our generosity, and determination to act.”