Tim Murphy: Don’t need someone who has a ‘learning curve’ overseeing Ebola response

Rep. Tim Murphy, Pennsylvania Republican, said Monday that newly-announced “Ebola czar” Ron Klain simply doesn’t have the background that is needed for such a position.

“This is a very uncertain course we’re going through — there’s a lot we don’t know about Ebola and we don’t know what we don’t know — it goes that far,” Mr. Murphy, a clinical psychologist, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Mr. Murphy’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, convened a hearing on the crisis last week.

“I think at this time when America’s very worried [and] very anxious about this, we didn’t need someone who was a political person, who [has] worked on campaigns before — I didn’t hear anybody at that hearing saying, ’please put someone in charge of us who works on campaigns,’” he said.

“There’s a great deal still that needs to be done in this nation,” Mr. Murphy added, calling for restrictions on nonessential travel, training more people, creating more centers that can handle Ebola and advance research, and continuing to put a great deal of work into Africa, for example.

Mr. Murphy said it’s not intended to be anything personal against Mr. Klain, who has worked for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Vice President Al Gore.

“We don’t need someone who has to have a learning curve of what’s going on, but someone who understands what needs to be done when the physicians and other researchers and people involved in this make a request, someone who’s involved and knows these logistics; get them right on board,” he said.