White House asks Congress for $1.4B to fight Ebola outbreak

The Trump administration is seeking $1.4 billion from Congress to address the worsening Ebola outbreak in Africa, including $800 million for the construction of a controversial quarantine facility in Kenya, according to a White House funding request released late Wednesday. 

The Ebola funding is part of a much larger $87.6 billion request to pay for the Iran war and other priorities. 

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought made the request in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). 

“These funds would be used to limit the spread of Ebola beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to other vulnerable nations and ensure the virus does not reach U.S. shores,” Vought wrote in the letter. 

The Trump administration has been reluctant to bring back any American citizen who was infected or exposed to Ebola, so it was building a quarantine facility to hold........

© The Hill