House Dems request hearing on Ebola

A group of House Democrats is asking for a hearing on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa as global health officials issue increasingly desperate cries for help.

House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and two other key members of the panel, Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), urged GOP leaders to schedule the event soon.

{mosads}”The House is scheduled to be in session only ten days this month. We should use this time wisely and hold hearings on this important global health issue as expeditiously as possible,” they wrote.

The lawmakers expressed interest in a handful of specific issues, including whether agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are equipped to fight the virus and the status of efforts to develop anti-Ebola drugs.

The Energy and Commerce panel already has two events scheduled for next week on disease cures.