House Dem calls for Ebola screenings before passengers leave for US

Democratic Rep. Ron Barber (Ariz.) joined a growing chorus of lawmakers calling for tougher actions to protect the United States from Ebola on Friday, suggesting screening at airports in West Africa before passengers embark for the U.S.

“It seems to me if we could catch the disease before [a traveler] actually embarks we would be in a much better place to protect the united states and the citizens of the U.S.,” Barber said at a field hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee in Dallas. 

The Obama administration this week announced Ebola screenings at five U.S. airports for passengers arriving from affected-countries. 

Barber suggested those screenings move from the point of arrival to the point of departure in the Ebola-ravaged countries. 

Customs and Border Patrol official John Wagner responded in his testimony that visa applications already ask about communicable diseases but that he would refer to the State Department for additional steps. 

Barber does not go as far as many Republicans, who have been calling for an outright ban on travel from the West African countries in question. 

Another Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) said on Friday that the screenings in the U.S. may have to be “expanded” in the future. 

Texas Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, called for screenings at the airport in Dallas, the city where the first U.S. Ebola patient was. They also on Friday raised concerns that while the five airports with screenings handle 94 percent of the passengers from the affected countries, the remaining six percent could be a problem.