Fighting Ebola

The Senate Appropriations Committee earlier today held a hearing on the U.S. government's efforts to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Among the witnesses was Assistant Defense Secretary for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Michael Lumpkin, who in his prepared testimony thanked lawmakers for approving the obligation of up to $750 million of the $1 billion reprogrammed from overseas contingency operations funding to the Pentagon's Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid Program, and outlined additional money he said the Defense Department needs to continue the fight:

This obligation authority has provided DoD the ability to deploy a joint task force to the region and rapidly undertake logistical, engineering, training, laboratory testing, and other support missions that are helping to turn the tide of this terrible epidemic.

I would also like to highlight the necessity and urgency of the resources sought by the President in his Emergency Appropriations Request for Ebola of last week. Of the $4.64 billion for immediate needs to combat this epidemic, the Department seeks $112 million that will provide immediate funding for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiatives to develop technologies aimed at providing immediate, temporary immunity against Ebola while vaccines are developed. Additional initiatives are working to foster technologies to curtail the development timelines of these same vaccines.