Roberts has ‘no confidence’ in Obama on Ebola crisis

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) blasted President Obama’s handling of the Ebola crisis, which has now reached the United States.

“I have no confidence in how the Obama Administration is managing the Ebola crisis,” Roberts said Tuesday. “I call on the president to actually lead on this issue, take emergency action and protect American lives before we have an epidemic here at home.”

{mosads}Roberts, who faces a tough reelection fight in November, said Obama should immediately issue a travel ban from West Africa, where the epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people this year.

“The cases of Ebola in the United States came to our shores on a plane from Liberia,” Roberts said. “West Africa is the source of this potential pandemic, and we should fight this virus there, at its source, not on our borders or in our airports.”

The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., Thomas Eric Duncan, died last week. And now one of his nurses in Dallas has contracted the virus. The administration is screening passengers traveling from the region Duncan had visited.

“We are facing a potential national health emergency that could overwhelm our health care system, threaten the economy, and place national security at risk if not handled properly,” Roberts said. “We cannot afford the risk of President Obama’s inaction and failure to lead. American’s are frightened, and they deserve better.”

After decades of service in Congress, Roberts could lose his seat to Independent challenger Greg Orman.