CNN "The Lead" - Transcript:

Interview

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TAPPER: Joining me now is one of those questioners, the third one in that montage, Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. She's a member, of course, of the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee. She joins me now from Capitol Hill. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us.

Did you come out of that hearing feeling more or less confident in our health care system's ability to deal with the Ebola crisis?

SCHAKOWSKY: What I saw at the hearing today was a CDC and other

agencies that are understanding the mistakes that were made and flexible enough to make the changes. I am hopeful that we're going to see a much better train and equip protocol, if you will, that's going to make sure that people around the country, our health care professionals, are fully able to address this issue. I don't even want to call it a crisis in the United States. We have a crisis in West Africa, but I do think with the robust infrastructure of health care that we have in our country, that we're going to be able to meet the challenges and we have had some stumbles along the way. There's no question.

TAPPER: Well, have those stumbles shaken your confidence at all in how the Obama administration has responded and will be able to respond in the future to this -- if you're not calling it a crisis -- this potential crisis?

SCHAKOWSKY: No, I think we have with Dr. Fauci and Dr. Frieden, two of the best epidemiologist, the best public health officials that there are available, but I think that -- and I think capable now of making sure that not only are the protocols more appropriate but that they are actually being enforced, that the training is going to be there.

So, you know, I feel confident but, of course, I think that, you know, there are many things that need to be done to build an infrastructure in West Africa. That's where the problem is and that's what we want prevent coming to the United States.

TAPPER: But, Congresswoman, I agree with you. If I were wheeled into an emergency room and there was Dr. Frieden, there was Dr. Fauci, I'd feel great. But as you know, they're the first responders. And as you voiced during that hearing and we've covered on the show, the nurses at Dallas Presbyterian, they say they have been lied to, they've been isolated, they've been left out in the cold, they didn't get proper instructions -- that's just one hospital. One hopes that the United States doesn't have this at an epidemic level where many hospitals go through it.

But where's the disconnect between what Fauci and Frieden know and these people on the front lines?

SCHAKOWSKY: OK, that was one -- that was one incident. And I think the lesson has been learned. And we have heard the health professionals, especially the nurses, really speak, that they need more help.

I also do want to say that we have to make sure that we adequately fund these agencies. Nancy Pelosi actually issued a statement today that she wants the appropriations committee to come back and restore some of the funds that had been cut from the National Institutes of Health, where its director has, Francis Collins, has said that we could have had an Ebola virus vaccine by now had his agency not been cut. This is not a partisan guy.

And so, there are many things that we can do, including properly funding all of these agencies.

TAPPER: Right. And Dr. Collins was talking about the cuts over a decade, not just recently.

I want to ask you, Senator Bill Nelson, a fellow Democrat of yours, has called on the administration to specifically appoint an Ebola czar to be on the front lines at the White House, to be one person dealing with this. Do you agree with that?

SCHAKOWSKY: I think it is a good idea because it's not the only crisis that we may -- or the problem we face. The Enterovirus that is actually causing deaths among some children. You know, we have to continue to protect on all fronts. And so, having someone just in charge of Ebola I think it's absolutely a really good idea.

TAPPER: And, lastly, Congresswoman, today, your fellow congressman, Republican Ed Royce, who's the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he called on the U.S. State Department to immediately stop issuing visas to non-U.S. nationals in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where this Ebola hot zone is. Do you agree with that?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, you know, I think there's been many who also suggested that we stop any kind of travel altogether from those countries. The question is, is this going to make people go underground, go over land to other places, Brussels is flying planes all over and people are flying on those.

You know, I'm from Chicago. We have a great protocol now that's in place that is asking questions and actually isolating people who have in any way been impacted by Ebola in Chicago.

So, I think it's worth -- an idea worth exploring, but I think mostly we need to help those countries locally to address the problem.

TAPPER: All right. Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you.

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