the, a it's important to mention one of the reason is fought to hard to role back sequestration in the >> to provide -- which have had to deal with this steep and harmful budget cuts. i believe it's going to be very

kit cal that we continue to focus on rolling back this trend of disinvestment in research and development so we can ensure that our country continues to produce the kind of life-saving, world-changing research that we know we're capable of. but i am very concerned. i just need to say this -- that fiscal awe state and the return of sequestration next year will continue to weaken our ability to respond to needs like this. so, dr. fast -- disaster facci he talk about how the sequestration has impacted the u.s.' able to respond to the ebola situation? >> thank you for the question, senator. i have to tell you honestly, abeen a significant impact on is, as you well know -- i know you've been fighting for us for a long period of time. our bug has been flat since the end of the doubling in 2003 with

the two-plus percent inflationary index that over a ten-year period we lost 22% in our purchasing power. that was the left hook. he right cross what the sequestration that came in and pulled out a significant amount of money. 1 359 billion. of which we got reconstituted, not all of it. we try to preserve the fundamental basic research of the investigators, the bright ideas that people have, and if you want to preserve that, the money you have are in initiatives such as the development of vaccines and the development of drugs, suffered because it's a balance. there's prom initiatives and investigator initiated rewards, and when you shrink the budget or don't give even an inflationary increase, all of that whittles away and you get secondary fakes, like disincentives of getting bright

people involved, from your state or any state, who feel there's a disincentive to get involved. so it has been both in an acute and chronic sinneddous way eroded our able to respond in the way that i and my colleagues would like to see us be able to respond to these emerging threats. in my institute particularly, that's responsible for responding on the dime to an emerging infectious disease threat, this is particularly damaging. >> i hope all of us keep that in mind moving forward. again, i'm proud of the folks in my state, bill and melinda gets gave $50 million to scale up emergency operations. another 9 mine has been contributed. dr. robinson, director bell, i know that gates foundation has stepped up that way, and the money that is going to be included in the cr, thank you

four appropriations chair who is sitting next to me, is that enough money? and global support to stop this outbreak? >> i'll answer, center, for the cdc. we appreciate the $30 million in the cr. that amount of money is enough to keep us operating through the end of the continuing resolution on december 11th. it allow us to keep our people in the field to pay for our staff, and to begin to scale up in a way that we think is necessary. we are -- will be kind of considering over the time period of the cr, what additional resources we will need for the rest of the fiscal year in order to fulfill our responsibilities and respond to the ebola brought break in the way we know we need to. >> dr. robinson. >> the $58 million we requested will get us through this fall. we want more than vaccines and more therapyityics, there will have to be more funding for us

to go forward. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator murray. senator isisson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. bell, i want to echo what has been said about how proud we are of cdc. at one of georgia's two senators, however, i want to add how proud we are of emory university and dr. jim wagner and the staff. i now dr. brantly would feel the same way, as well as phoenix that's brought the patients back from liberia to the united states. that was a tremendous effort. and saxby was gone when this happened so i was the only senator reachable by the press they day it was announced they would come to emory university. the press immediately looked for the wisdom of bringing an ebola patient back to the united states and whether we had the capable of preventing the disease from spreading. in emory university and the cdc did a marvelous job of making

those transfers seamless and complete, and prove though media that was truth their best to start a riot, think, that the ebola virus will be safely con find they were in the best place in the world. so y'all deserve a tremendous amount of credit. i want teed say that publicly to you. >> thank you, senator. >> tell me, you said this is by far the worst ebola outbreak you have ever seen. what was the next worse before it, in terms of numbers? >> let's see. -- [inaudible] >> about 400 some cases here's me question. what makes this one so different. >> a number of factors, senator, that have made this one quite a bit different. first of all, this is the first time we have seen ebola in a large urban setting. our previous experience with ebola outbreaks has been primarifully rural areas, and there are many, many different

sort of factors that come into play when you have a ebola in a situation with people packed very closely together in a large city. so that's one thing. another issue that has been challenging is that the area, this sort of three-country area where the outbreak sort of began, and has been propagating from, is an area with communities that are sometimes not very receptive to intervention by the government or public health officials. a third point is these are countries with very, very weak infrastructure start with. they've been just been emerging from decades of war. they have very weak health systems, and very little capablessities to senator harkin's point about public health capables and even healthcare capabilities, so very little with which to battle the

outbreak from the beginning. >> i've traveled extensivefully west africa and seen first hand what you -- they're almost bereft of health care facilities of anything we would consider to be reasonable. when you described containment, you described a very labor intensive process. you talked about people taking temperatures for 21 days to see if somebody had been exposed. you talk about monitoring. talk about isolating. we're sending 3,000 american troops to west africa, and we have 100cdc personnel. we have ngos and other volunteers. seeks like it's going to take a lot bigger labor force just to contain the disease at its current level. aim creek? >> yes, sir. there's lots of different settings we can talk about. but for example in the ebola treatment units, 90% of the staff are local. i think it is important to remember that the governments, the people in the countries and the governments themselves, are stepping up, and with assistance, from both of us that have the technical capabilities,

are really able to fill many of these roles and responsibilities. as i say, some of the work in the treatment units, much of it going out into communities every day and checking in with contacts to see how they're doing. these are roles that the people themselves, local people themselves in these countries, can undertake, with some technical guidance from some of us that have this experience. this is not minimize the scale of the human resources that will be needed to contain this. but as i say, i think that there are many of these sorts of functions that we're already seeing the local people help with. there's also other groups around africa, the african union, many of our field training programs, from around africa, that are also stepping up. so it is an enormous job. but it's a job, as i say, where i think there are lots of

different sectors and parts of the local community in addition to the international community that can work together to address this. >> i know my time is up. i want to make a comment. the africa summit which was here, participated and some of that was west africa leaders. they were begging -- not begging but wanting so much american knowledge, cdcnih, all the technology, but seemed very -- even the bordering countries seemed like they were willing to provide manpower but badly needed leader palestine terms of health care. >> yes, sir. we have made quite a bit of progress in that regard over the last month or so, and are working very closely with the african union to have them deploy staff to the area. >> thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. before i recognize senator casey, you mentioned all these different entities now addressing this. cdc, usaid, state department,

world health organization, doctors without borders. can you tell white house is in charge of coordinating our government's response? effort in africa? >> yes, sir. in terms of the u.s. government, in each of the countries, there is the disaster assistance response teams, the dart. this is the usaid umbrella under which all of the u.s. government efforts are coordinated, and we are quite well coordinated with all these different -- with the usg organizations. in the larger sort of undertaking in each office these countries people are getting organized generally speaking with the government taking -- go ahead. >> usaid is in charge intracountry. but overall, who is in charge of coordinating -- >> the dart -- there is actually the three countries together

unthe umbrella of the usaid umbrella. >> i guess i'm just -- >> well -- >> i'm startled to find that out. usaid would be in charge of coordinating -- >> it's a disaster. when the disaster is declared -- i don't know as we scale up, i'm sure there will be other mechanisms for the various parts of the government to collaborate and coordinate with each other but there is this kind of structure on the ground, which is meant to -- >> i think this requires further looking into by this -- by both commitees, senator casey. >> i would concur, mr. chairman. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. i want to thank the members of the panel, for being here, and i also want to note the good work that's been done by this committee and members of this committee for a lot of years.

the chairman, chairman harkin, senator mccull ski as well, with her experience, and grateful to work with them. senator byrd, who has become such a leading voice on this. i don't want to plow ground that's already been plowed through. i apologize for having to juggle two hearings, but i wanted to ask dr. bell -- i know that one over fundamental questions you're asked is what is the threat to the united states, if any? and how you articulate that. let's just for purposes of process and the mechanics of confronting this kind of a threat were it to arise here, i'm just thinking -- just pick a town in pennsylvania, won't pinpoint one, but if there was someone in pennsylvania that was

a patient at a hospital and they tested positive for ebola, what would be the steps that would be undertaken at that point? >> thank you, senator. we have been working quite closely here in the united states to prepare for this sort of eventuality you described. as we mentioned, ebola really is not easily transmitted. and i think in terms of helping to understand the context of answering this question, just want to say a word or two about what a hospital in these countries in africa looks like. as a way of contrasting. so, when we think of a hospital, we think of a shiny, clean, lots of equipment. most of the hospitals in this region, as many of you that have traveled to this area are aware, often times there's no running water. there's no soap. there may not even beds. may be mattresses on the floor.

every healthcare worker is caring for large number of patients. there will beds all around. the may not have the appropriate person -- personal protective equipment like gowns and gloves and masks. that's the environment in africa where ebola is currently raging. in the united states, by contrast, we have many, many protocols in place, and with these protocols, most hospitals that can isolate a patient in a private room, with their own bathroom, and can follow very strict and meticulous infection control practices, which have been well outlined and which health care workers are quite aof, can safely take care of ebola patients, and while we haven't taken care of any ebola patients prior to this outbreak here in the united states, we have safely cared for at least five patients in recent years who have had other viral fevers. so, what we call -- each of

these circumstances, these patients were cared for quite safely in our hospitals around the country and we didn't see any transmission. while this is something certainly to be taken quite seriously, and we're doing a lot to educate healthcare workers and laboratory workers and to answer people's questions to sensitize them to these issues, most hospitals in the united states with these basic capables should be able to safely care for ebola patients. >> thank you, doctor. limited time but i want to ask dr. fauci one question. you noted in your testimony a number of ebola therapeutic and vaccines in development. recognizing that all these products are still rather early in their development, do any of them have clear advantages or disadvantages over the others?

can you make that assessment yet? >> i don't think, honestly, senator casey, we can say that, because apart from zmap and one other perhaps, they have not really been in humans we have experience where things look good in the animal and then they get into the human it doesn't work or is too toxic. i can say there are a number of candidates that look favorable enough in an animal model we're enthusiastic about moving them into face one and beyond that. so there are number of candidates that have a favorable profile in an animal model but i think it would be unsize are wise to -- unwise to say this one looks better than this one, because it's too premature to do that. >> i hope there's nothing that congress has not done that would be an impediment for you to be

able to answer that question down the road and to be able to make the progress you want to make on these developments, because we have an obligation, i believe, to fund nih and fund these -- this research in a manner that leads to this, the result we hope. so i think that's a bipartisan obligation. i say it for the record. thank you, doctor. >> thank you. we appreciate it very much, sir. >> thank you. >> senator bowsman. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you, very much, for having this hearing, hearing you and rest of the leadership on both sides. this is so important to y'all. we appreciate you being here. our all have sterling, excellent reputations and we we appreciate the fact you're working so hard to keep us safe. from what i'd read, seems like speed is important, education is important, coordination is importantment we have the cdc

involved, the nih, the dod, the department of state, samantha powers is calling the security council for to the first time ever in an event like this. i would like to get into a little deeper, we heard that usaid was distributing sufficient -- stuff over there, who is in charm of all of that at the washington level? who is taking this on so that we can get coordination so we can get speed, and get the education component done? is that cdc? are you doing that, miss bell? or mrs. bell? i'm sorry. >> that's okay. we at cdc have the lead on the public health aspects of the response. the dod and the usaid have the lead on logistics and materiale. the national security council is coordinating certainly from washington, and it's really important that we draw on all of

our assets from all different agencies working in our particular lanes, and coordinating, as i say, all together. there's a lot -- there's very strong interagency coordination, as i say, the nsc is deeply involved in bringing all the agencies together, and we at cdc, as i say, take the lead in the public health aspect. >> i hope we get that worked out, where we actually have somebody we can point to and -- an individual that is kind of in charge of coordinating because the same thing is going on the ground that needs to be going on over there is simply not going to happen without that happening here. one thing that has happened, dr. bell, dr. fauci, there's an ebola outbreak going on in the democratic republic of congo. is that related to this or separate? >> i'll say something i'm sure

dr. fauci can add. this outbreak is not related to what we're seeing in west africa. as you say, senator, this area of the drc is an area in which we have seen many ebola outbreaks in the past, and this outbreak is of the strain that is quite similar to those outbreaks. so while we are taking it very seriously and we at cdc have sent a team into that area, we don't think that outbreak is at all connected. we're actually, i think, aware of the individual case that began that outbreak and had no relationship to what has been going on in west africa. >> you can actually go and -- i agree with dr. bell that will be determined. it does not look like it's the same. the extraordinary ability to do rapid deep sequencing of the genome of these viruses can actually pinpoint whether or not they're relate and it's very interesting that the study that was done and published very

recently, showed the exact point introduction of what we're anything west africa and how it went from guinea to sierra heown to liberia, and doesn't look like the strain in the democratic republic of the congo is in that lineage. even though it's the same general strain. >> very good. dr. bell, can you reassure the dish know the public is concerned about bringing it into the country. can you talk to us a little bit about the steps with the -- helping those that are at the airports, identifying people that possibly have the virus? >> yes, senator. it's certainly quite understandable why people would be concerned. the images we're seeing are quite alarming. as you know, we have been working with the -- in the countries to improve their able to do exit screening. we have teams in each country,

and we have really been able to help them improve their capable to do exit screening, considerably over the last month or so, and are quite pleased with the progress in these countries. they have equipment, they understand what they're supposed to do, they have the protocols in place. and they're really moving forward. in addition, i'll mention that we also have been doing a lot of work with our own border agencies, so with the tsa and with the cdp to train them so they understand what to look for and they understand when they need call on us, as you know, cdc has quarintine stations in major airports around the country. and then the final point i goods i would make on this topic, to senator casey's point, is that we have done a lot of work here in the united states with healthcare providers, even with just citizens, so that they know what to look for, to remember to

ask for a travel history. we have -- there are number of our laboratory response networks, of laboratories around the country who now have the capacity to test for ebola. and then the healthcare facilities themselves are very tuned into the appropriate isolation methods that would be needed should they have a suspect ebola patient. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you. >> senator bennett. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you very much for holding this area. dr. bell, you messengered in your opening comments a particular problem in liberia, there being a lack of isolation capacity. i wonder, if you could describe for us -- if everything actually worked the way it's supposed to work, make the decision -- what the experience of somebody today who is infected with ebola is in lie beer yeah when they don't happen an isolation chamber, and what you expect to the the

progress points we need to see in order to know we're actually creating an infrastructure that can -- that really can change the outcomes, the course of this disease. >> thank you, senator. as you mentioned, there are not enough treatment facilities, isolation facilities in liberia right now to take care of all of the cases, and because of that, there's ongoing transmission that is occurring because we can't isolate them. we are working on this in a number of fronts. first, as many of the senators have mentioned, we will be building more ebola treatment units and in addition, a number of other entities, including the government of liberia, are also building ebola treatment units. so there will be a scaleup of ebola treatment units. there's a number of groups actually working to scale it up. in the meantime, there are -- i'm sorry. in the meantime there are interim measures we're taking so

people can be isolated safely, not in a treatment unit. so there's a number of ways to approach that. there are community sort of holding centers for lack of a better term, where people can be isolated safely with one caregiver, and that caregiver can be provided with the appropriate personal protective equipment that they need to prevent transmission to themselves. there's also some efforts afoot to do that in households. so, where households -- caregiver in a household would be given a kit which provided all the equipment that the person would need to protect themselves, and also some of the medications, such as oral rehydration, for example, tylenol to help with fever -- that the patient themselves could use during their illness. so there's a number of different kinds of interim measures that we're working to scale up now at the same time as we're working

on building additional isolation facilities. >> how are you -- women who are you working to make sure that work is actually happening rather than just being thought about? >> there's actually quite a bit going on right now, actually usaid has been working with a number of nongovernmental organizations, including msf -- they've actually produced tens of thousands of these kits and have a machine in place to scale them up to hundreds of thousands in the near future. >> thank you. one of the first questions the chairman talk about the need to have a cdc or something like it in every country, and that is something i think we ought to aspire to. we have a long tie go to get him just wonder if you could talk a little bit about theert you're making to create a more global and operable network of real-time detection of diseases and collaboration among these

various countries in our response. >> yes. part our response here is to build up these basic capacitiness these countries in addition, right now, asen urgent matter, we're working to build up these capacities in the bordering countries. so, laboratory capacity, emergency operation centers, rapid response teams, beginning planning on what they would need to do in terms of isolation should they need to do that, working on culturally appropriate burial practices so in those bordering countries, that is sort of an urgent priority for thus. then across the rest of africa we are also working to kind of harden the country's ability to be able to recognize imported cases, to know who is the incident manager, how is their emergency operation center going to work and what are the steps they take in order to respond to an additional case. do they know how to do contact

tracing, who would be responsible for contact tracing, where to isolate the patient. these are all things we're working on now in the context of theout break. these are basic cameabled the global health security agenda have -- we have been calling for, and as you probably know, we at cdc have been working with the number of countries in a pilot kind of way over the last couple of fiscal years, to show the proof of principle, of what global health security can mean, to detect, to respond, and to prevent these outbreaks, with basic capabilities around laboratory capacity, around communications strategies, around emergency operations centers, basic epidemiology... ...

>> >> ifs and -- if we have the appropriations bill but an understanding of course, you cannot do it all at once. to trade them in laboratory procedures to get us a

jump-start. >> i appreciate that. >> they need the money. that is right. >> not inexpert of epidemics i dunno if there are excepted stages wiggles from full epidemic to it be out of control forest fire. what are the bad fly eggs we should be looking for with the threat that it presents? >> there are some key

indicators that depends on the situation there are some basic indicators as senator alexander has discussed like the number of cases of health care workers we should not see those if intervention is working but after that we work to track fame's whether patients that need to be isolated could be appropriately isolated equivalency bodies that could be picked up in a timely fashion are other indicators to help understand if we bend the curb and if it goes to the right direction. >> consider that exist seeing effort that is heroic but not keeping get from

accelerating how many multiples of the existing level of effort are required to get ahead of this touche be in control? ten times? one hundred times? >> i would say a very large increase of that effort and also with a sense of urgency so that have been quickly. it is hard to say how many multiples there needs to be. >> every close to meeting the threat now? >> the intervention is that we have heard about in recent days is the sort of scale that we need to address this outbreak and epidemic. >> dr. fauci is this up virus capable of being manipulated by humans?

could one and go into it and meddle with the portion of that dna strain? kids someone try to make something that is more transmittable? >> theoretically you could manipulate almost did a virus the way that you wanted issa question to raise red flags but yes the trouble is it would not be easy for somebody to do that in their laboratory backyard there would probably kill themselves that would be a state type thing that i mentioned our getting involved in those fever viruses is part of the agenda because way back

during the cold war it was clear from intelligence and proof been the soviets were stockpiling those fever viruses so hasted we the state not just throw person. >> we would love to work with you on that to explore that further. think you very much. >> is cdc werke with the who? but i guess. very closely. >> it is lighter standing the president submitted the name of dr. friedman to be our representative to the who in july of this year and it is still lost somewhere in the united states senate. i would hope before this weekend's and we return home

might consider pass this on of bipartisan basis on who we know well so he could be with the who now waiting to months or more to return to consider that nomination of a bite to suggest that to see if we could get that done. the second question to dr. fauci following up senator casey said i hope there has been nothing done on a budgetary basis to slow down development of the ebola and taxied the talk about 22% decline of funding and sequestration has there been to your knowledge said a shortage of funds leading to a delay of testing or development of the ebola vaccine? >> honestly senator

everything over of the last several years with few exceptions has been at a level less productive than we would have been purely on the basis of significant constraint we cannot say there is us serious delay in this tax see that would be ideal for exaggeration but under the umbrella of the entire effort we put forward had to be muted by of budget that is shrinking by real dollars. >> it is minder standing -- my understanding about the of physician per capita is expected to be 240

physicians in sierra leone for 100,000 people or one position for but hundred thousand? that is the indication in for a snapshot of the scarcity of medical professionals at the highest level. we included in the immigration of bill that passed a provision that provided if you are medically trained in africa and promised to serve for a certain period of time we would honor that and respect that not allow all people to come to it is states to they have an obligation to their country of the doctors could serve in the crisis situation overseas about jeopardize saying their immigration and status but

that was never called for consideration of the house. speak to not just that terrible infrastructure with hospitals but the medical professionals that is available. >> you are right. the number of doctors and liberia and sierra leone are extremely small i think before it numbered in the hundreds and tragically because of a lack of infection control mcorp conditions of the health care facility and the inability of the workers to recognize cases when they come up with the fever they think it is malaria but the workers could not protect themselves tragically a lot of these health care workers have died and many

facilities that were already rudimentary are closed so we paid to trade and provide protective equipment to get those facilities back up and running safely so we don't continue the spiral of that ebola outbreak of other conditions not being treated right now. >> we learned the hard way they have very few of medical resources when they face this challenge with soviet 10 hour played right away to the united states. >> senator ivan say when you talk about dr. freedman's nomination i don't know how lee dropped the ball on this

but it does not come to us. >> mr. chairman the affirmation rehab is a u.s. nominated the end of july every run on an august this dash this meeting with him tomorrow and a bipartisan way i urge senator mcconnell the he supported the proposals sled out all why the majority leader and the whip could now work to get that done before we leave. i would hope so and would support that as i imagined the chairmen would. >> i would the meeting but with those little committee meetings to get the job done in a hurry. [laughter] >> they q very much mr. chairman.

they q4 organize saying this hearing and to my colleagues for such job bipartisan in participation. first of all, i want to think - - take the people for all their outstanding jobs they're doing to organize the american government's response to this and also to dr. brantly and teeeighteen people trying to help people with the terrific challenges facing the workers to or are under incredible stress. that are under such a grip and horrific proportions.

so too will acknowledge that but mr. charles it is great to have you but dr. brantly is great to see you. but it is great that you are well enough to be here a hunt travel here and that we're not afraid to have you here but this is a stunning accomplishment ice said what it is a matter of hours doing this to city into dr. brantly? you look so much like her. we're glad you are here. first of all, of the issue of who is in charge from

senator harkin i think usaid is it in charge of responding it a disaster and their to be acknowledged for their ability to do that but the size and scope of watching government agencies this the day higher authority to command personnel on a bipartisan basis to the kinda of resources to do this because what we're doing today just go to use the appropriations we will need dod and hhs and cdc so i think mr. chairman

across the aisle you should ask the president we gave up point person to do this. >> i just want to make sure i did not have of this conception. i've met on the ground coordination in the middle of that area but i take your point. >> here is my point as the bipartisan group we have the republican party we of work together to create if we wanted to me with any person in charge who would be that person in charge?

aid? dempsey? >> i take your point senator >> so let's do that to maximize the leverage to also create that sense of urgency. talk about resources. so if you see the so we can have on a bipartisan basis but what i am looking ahead to december of 11 this see our is said down payment to keep the body functioning the year cody to respond in

africa to prevent it and my correct? >> yes. it will allow us to continue field operations through the end of the cr. but the situation is very fluid and we are assessing what we need for the rest of the year. >> host: when did you have to submit fiscal 60 request? >> ups ran out of the answers. >> let me tell you. >> i thought you might be able to. >> a few months ago. whenever dr. friedman told the white house he needed for the cdc is three-year five months behind soviet courage omb to go back and say what is it that you need

for the cnr and omnibus as we can usually find a way to cancel the sequester so i would say let's get back and revisit that to get the latitude to come back now dr. fauci you have been tried to find solutions and we're so lucky to have you but you spoke to us eloquently a few years ago about a pandemic they'd had a global infectious diseases crisis to have that infrastructure to respond. and my correct? >> correct. >> this pertains to one

continent in one part of a continent are we headed to a pandemic? >> no. because as we have mentioned, the spread of this in the west african and countries is a reflection of that extraordinary disparity of lack of infrastructure to handle the help break -- outbreak to get the people taking care of. n the country like united states and it is entirely conceivable to have someone get off the plane to be a symptomatic to land in washington or new york or paris or london get sick thing go to the emergency room and in fact, a person or two because someone did not take a travel history.

but at that point the capabilities we have would make almost impossible to have the help break the ec and the country that it is driven by a lack of ability to handle infection control and we have that. >> if the disease mutates is that of concern to you? ended those treatments deep effective because it is new or become airborne? >> get a hypothetical you say we have to say it is not impossible but as a person dealing with irises for so long is it likely? no. you never rule anything out and we are following the genetic mutation of this

very carefully. when people ask me the question i say what i know will happen is not hypothetical that of less lee get control of this it will continue to not only devastate but much more difficult to get control in the back of the mind we concern ourselves with irritation but today it is not the problem but the full court press to get this under control by standard classical control that it spirit that is public health infrastructure. >> quite correct. >> date you senator wearily up running late it has been very informative thank you very much for your

leadership and the record will remain open for 10 days i hope we can continue to call upon you for advice and consultation. >> now we call the second panel teeeighteen and dr. brantly served as a medical director for this of meriden first care center in monrovia in july his life changed abruptly when he contracted the ebola virus wall street patients we're faithful he has recovered and is well enough to offer his tv can sigh as the provider and a patient. dr. brantly is joined today by his wife and we welcome you here also. and also of note teeeighteen

is a survivor of sierra leone brutal civil war and a program richer for the relief foundation in sierra leone. he monitors all relief foundation projects include the the ebola awareness project in their rural western district. and again i apologize for the long period but people are interested in what is happening with ebola and you do bring a very unique perspective. you contract did ebola and alive and well today.

so please proceed as you so desire. >> mr. chairman, chairman harkin and a steam to senators i am grateful for the opportunity to testify before you today about the unprecedented ebola outbreak booker in west africa that has already claimed thousands of lives that threatens to kill tens of thousands more are lost take the opportunity to thank each and every one of the ride no they people who help to play of will to break and be home when i was so sick. thank you. on october 16 i moved to liberia with my family to serve as of medical missionary at the hess -- hospital and worked as a physician in to support the of adequate health care system and a country that is still struggling from a

brutal civil war. we learned there were cases of ebola in the region began to prepare our staff and facilities to be ready to care for patients of the safest way possible should that need arise. three months later our hospital had the only treatment unit and allows only one of two to treat the first individuals in that area. bled to the 11th through july 20th the number of cases continue to grow at the incredible rate as the disease would spiral out of control it is clear we were not equipped to fight to effectively on are on a began to call for more international assistance but it fell on deaf ears. as the ebola virus consumed my patients would witness the for this disease did upon the victims that paid in humiliation, irrational

fear and superstition throughout the communities and the violence and unrest that threatens the entire nation's on july 23rd i fell ill in three days later i learned i tested positive i came to understand firsthand what my patients had suffered was isolated and ensure privacy my family can. even though i do most of my caregivers i concede nothing of their eyes through the protective goggles the humiliation of losing control bodily functions and vomiting blood aside of internal bleeding that could have led to my death. ungrateful to the team that worked tirelessly to keep me alive and despite a severe lack of medical resources they were courageous i was

evacuated to every rye was one of the few to recover from ebola as a survivor is natalie my privilege but a duty to speak out to those of west africa who have unspeakable devastation because of this horrific disease. this unprecedented outbreak received very little notice of the international community and tell nancy and i became infected but since that time there was intense media attention and increased awareness the response today however has been sluggish and unacceptable out of step with the scope and size of the problem that is now before us the united states government has been following the events since that time and only now parisienne commitment i had

the privilege and honor to meet with president obama this morning to discuss his commitment more military of a resources to fight this epidemic is also requesting increased funding for the cdc. i think can for entering into the battle and a larger way now it is imperative that these words are backed up by immediate action. to control the outbreak to stabilize the west africans and americans may need the treatment units the surge of health care workers cover regional command and control and we needed to really also 400,000 home treatment kits that have been committed to be sent without delay. no time to waste to care for the thousands of people that epidemiologists predict will fall victim in the next few weeks u.s. military must

establish and maintain the air bridge to develop personnel and supplies to bring in more resources in the future we cannot turn the tide of this disease without large cargo loads of equipment i am grateful to the president to move send those test kits to the region but those are only helpful if we deploy all available mobile laboratories and increase funding as quickly as possible the of laboratory we used in patients was 45 minutes away from the hospital and inadequately staffed the turnaround time was a new mayor for 12 for 36 hours after the blood was drawn of the patient is not infected with the virus that

could be of life threatening to lay kids and not effective as we have the facility in staffing to use them as a first tv to ever received the experimental drug i am a strong advocate for cdc and nih as a research vaccines and drugs that we just heard about that can give patients hope for recovery i deeply grateful even before this outbreak dedicated their lives to combat ebola but we cannot wait for i magic bullet it is beyond anything we have seen before and it is time to think outside the box. realize home health care interventions can be controversial however reid no mandate positive people stay at home and hide after they become infected because

of fear and superstition the families will abandon them or care for them that would result in the infection of the caregiver. . .

>> the least we can do is try to protect them from this deadly virus. all the interventions that are needed to stop this outbreak requires significant funding and busted and trim budgets must be appropriate. this is not a matter of providing commander terry and eight but a national purity concern. one of my patients was a man named francis. like most patients at first he was fearful and he shared the story of how he contracted the disease. he said i remember who i got this infection from. he said that he was sick at home and when he began vomiting blood, everyone around him lead. but his wife was determined to get into the hot will. since no one else was around to

help him, he went to this man's house and help to carry him out of the house and put him into a taxi. on the way to the hospital man died. if someone had come alongside him and given him a little bit of education and provided him with the personal women that he needed the family would still have their father and son and brother in the world still might have this good samaritan. unfortunately he fell victim to ebola and died. many is the analogy to describe this outbreak and it is a fire straight from the pit of hell. we cannot fool ourselves from thinking that the vast ocean will protect us from the flames

of this summit. instead, we must move quickly and immediately to deliver the promises that have been made and to be open to practical innovative interventions. this is the only way to keep nations from being reduced to ashes and thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you, doctor. >> thank you for your current. >> thank you for being here and being an example. >> mr. charles, welcome. and please proceed. >> thank you very much. chairman harkin, honorable senators, and fellow guests of this committee. thank you for the opportunity to allow me to come from west africa to testify in front of you today.

i am married and a father of two children, two girls, nine months and 10 years. [inaudible] i would like to share with you what my country is going through on a daily basis of the current ebola outbreak. unlike the civil war, it is affecting the entire population. in the civil war it was at the time part of the population was afraid of the attack. so the general atmosphere in my country in the west african region are afraid of fear. the biggest crisis that we have

ever seen, bigger than even the civil war. and i was able to survive the war. but i fear that this is going to be worse than the war. this foundation based in new jersey supports the rebuilding in sierra leone and provides relief and other supports for war-torn countries like sierra leone. the mission supports families and individuals affected by disaster, war, adverse socioeconomic conditions and free delivery of health care, food and other programs, empowering communities to become

self-sufficient. the foundation of which i am placed with has participated with us in sierra leone. and this includes justice and advanced good governance and achieve human rights and at the spoke some, we have privileges to show you what is going on on the ground. this affects liberia and guinea and other countries as well. and since the outbreak we have a response project in this

district and we have worked with the minister of health and sanitation. small budgets and groups are able to make impacts at the lowest level in the community and they understand the reality on the ground. as part of this project we have been walking with a number of those in our district with about 219,000 people including what we can do to kill the virus. and so in addition, we have collaboration in the other regions of the country as well a

great number of opportunities has made the situation very scary. and each day the situation has become worse and the problem of ebola can only be made worse and so when i was about to leave my 10-year-old daughter, she said dad, are you going to leave us in this country and go to america where there is no ebola? and i stared at her and i said, as i call her, i am going for your family and your future.

and i will be back in two weeks and she said, are you sure? because every day flights have been canceled and there are only two flights going to sierra leone and liberia and similarly my wife said the money that you use when you travel will not be enough this time around because the price of commodities has tripled. i'm so of what i'm trying to say in essence is that the situation is getting very difficult every day and we have been faced with the current outbreak challenge. and this is getting very heavy on the number of people. my biggest fear is that the

health system is not functional. when you go to a doctor, even when they are there, they deny that there might be infections or they are afraid and they are not sure what will happen with the patients in the upcoming weeks. ebola has increased, giving people who do not have a chance difficulties. we need equality. and we are not able to coordinate effectively the ebola response. people are losing confidence everyday and the ebola crisis has whited every day which have not been prepared to manage such a difficult situation and we

have in some towns very few numbers of deaths. and they have the capacity to house a hundred deaths and we only have a few guests at a time. and this keeps dropping fast everyday because we don't have the money or resources that we need to take care of. in a country like this, we have no idea [inaudible] a country with a high population and ebola is decreasing that every day and we are able to make donations to the minister

of social welfare and support this minister of social welfare. we are also very careful that these orphan children will be stigmatized and at the same time, it is a very dire situation. and people do not have the free will to bury their loved ones any more. and this includes compassion, care, and emotional love and you know that you have a social support around you is very important. flights have been canceled, the economic situation has been part of the result that is troubling. not justice but poverty and hunger and lack of medical possibilities. families go hungry when

individuals die or get sick or lose their jobs and with the support of the united states, the international community, we believe will put ebola out. however, our progress will have been lost, especially when already things went badly before the upgrade. [inaudible] and so we will need to help those in sierra leone so that we can sell for live because we

cannot continue to rely on national support. we have had their report that the doctor has spoke about and she gave a number of points talking specifically about liberia. and probably even worse in the numbers each day of infected people is definitely lesser than what is really happening underground and this includes the support that we have currently with what we have. lastly, i want to thank this house for listening to me and we

look forward to the continued support of the united states in sierra leone. thank you very much for your attention and the privilege you have given to me. thank you. >> thank you, mr. charles. it is always important to put a human face on matters like this and i think people read about it and you get the numbers and you see that it is horrible, but again, you have to understand the human impact and what this is doing to families in your country. in liberia and other countries as well. and the nature that i am now beginning to understand of how if we don't get it controlled soon, it is going to spiral out

of control and it will have a devastating effects that mr. charles is talking about. the whole economy will start grinding to a halt. doctor brantley, i am sure that i can speak for many around the world when i say thank you. thank you for being such an example for all of us on how to serve others. we regularly thank our soldiers were marching into harms way. let me say that this is no different. many runs the risk of helping those standing in the path of this terrible disease. so i want to include you and others like you in this. you definitely do us proud. very proud.

and i just, i have so many questions, but i know that we are running out of time. but i guess, doctor, what i would probably ask you first is, with all the no and you have been there with your family and you know what the situation is like, what is the most important thing that we can do now and what is the most important response that we have now and if you are in charge and you had a magic wand, what would you do with it the maximum one of the most important points is in your question. we have to do it now. this has been in the eye of the government for months and we can't afford to wait months or even weeks to take action and put people on the ground with

the bridges and pathways to begin going out in the community is and educating caregivers. and it's not that were trying to keep people at home, but we need to increase the capacity to care for them and that means not only creating more beds, by having a staff to care for them in those beds and putting them in a bed may keep them from getting a disease that does nothing to improve their chances of survival and must that they are receiving good polity support of terror. so we need more capacity for the treatment units and we must have the staff for those units as well. and we need to start educating people right now in their communities about how to safely care for their family members who are dying from ebola and are ashamed or scared of their own situations. >> you must have -- you have to have a valuable perspective on

liberian culture having been there. you know, we talk about a lot of people. some people are culturally sensitive, but they don't understand the situation. could people actually become more afraid of the workers if they are not adequate trained and equipped? >> i think that that is a very real possibility, mr. chairman. i think if we think about the situation in the united states tenures at our own civil war, there are still a lot of tensions and in liberia there are a lot of tensions between people groups and society in general and there is a sense of distrust of government and distrust of authority and distrust of foreigners, so yes, people will be resisted to help. but i think because of the devastation of this outbreak,

even those people that have been resistant to help are starting to see the need for some assistance, and i think that's why it is important that we just don't march in there with our military and to take over, but we partner with the ngos and the administrative health of liberia so that it is a partnership and we are using people that are survivors fare. there are more and more survivors every day in places where they can get good supportive care. those survivors are the ones i can go out and what you refer to culturally in a culturally appropriate way, educate the communities and distribute the personal protective equipment to protect the home care providers and i think that that is, that is an important part of the strategy. but again, it has to start now in a matter of days.

just less than two months ago from when i started it feels thick, the death toll has tripled. it takes two months to get a response up and going, if we only maintain that rate of growth, we are looking at now since and tens of thousands in nine months down the road, hundreds of thousands of not only cases of ebola but death. and we just can't afford that. >> that is my hope that our military airlift capability will start moving personnel over there. >> doctor brantley, let me thank you both. thank you for your work and for bringing awareness here. doctor kent brantly, thank you for being a good samaritan and we greatly admire what you have done. you are a survivor of ebola. is that like cancer, is in remission or are you cured?

>> thank you, senator. i am cured from ebola. >> so it is gone from you? >> yes. one person survived and they recover, they are not a carrier of the virus, they are not a, you know, the doctor at emory university said they would pose no public health risk. so there is no risk to the public from a survivor. there's a lot of stigma attached to being a survivor of ebola, -- >> can a ebola survivor become infected with dan? or are you immune then from ebola to . >> in theory and i think in practice i am immune to the strain of ebola that i was infected with it. there are five different strains of it. so if i went to the dominican -- the democratic republic of

congo, he may not be immune to the strain that is causing the outbreak there. >> you talked about and you treated a lot of patience. would you say that about half the patients who are infected die, or is it higher or lower than that a maximum unfortunately senator, in my experience, we did not have a 50% mortality rate or survival rate in our facility. we saw patients early on they were usually showing a very late in the course and in a month and a half that i was treating patients, we had one survivor. >> from the time you discovered an infection until death, how long is that typically? it varies greatly depending on how early the person has care. we had a person that died in a matter of hours from the time they presented to others that were under our care for a matter of days, four or five or six days before he passed away but it's not months? >> no, the jet illnesses

generally a two-week course. in either the person has died or they are on the road to recovery iraq which is why there is such concern because there is so explosive that a move so rapidly. is that right enact. >> i hear you talking about lots of people at home sick for a variety reasons. we don't know about them. we have heard the officials statistics say that less than 5000 infections and felt like there might be many more? >> i think that that is very accurate, sir. as many of the witnesses have said, numbers are based on the cases we have tested and identified and there are many more at home as well. >> so there are many more in what you're saying is that the course of the disease might run a couple of weeks and you're either dead or a survivor after that time in your experience although one died and others, they say, the officials

statistics say that the case doubles and so you don't have to do much math to see that the numbers are, as you say, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands go to we don't get control. and we have the benefit of the caregivers that is to keep the infection from spreading. and so it's sort of a hospice from the infected person would ebola. >> i think that that is a fair way to look at it. as he said, we cannot carry out complicated interventions in the home, but you can give people world hydration solutions or tylenol to help with their fever and pain. but the most important part of that is the part that offers

protection to the caregiver. because without that, we are not stopping transmission and that is what has to happen to control this epidemic. to stop the transmission of this disease area. >> you took a great risk in going there. and it is obvious from the testimony of mr. charles and others that we will need thousands of people in addition to the soldiers that are going. what would you say to others and people like yourself, we have a tradition in this country of doctors without borders. what would you say to americans that are seen as an trying to decide whether to go to west africa to help control this disease? >> thank you, mr. senator. this is a topic very dear to my heart.

i think the international presence of doctors without borders says that very well in a recent article, she says that comparing ebola to a fire, this is not the time to run away, this is the time to put on our protective gear and run into the burning building. physicians and health care professionals, even if it is just symbolic, they have taken an oath. many institutions take the hippocratic oath and that oath is to the service of mankind. and i think if we can help people overcome this fear of facing a deadly disease and remember that this is not just a disease that these are people that need help and these are societies that are collapsing because of the weight of this burden, we just need people to go help.

>> well, this was -- oh, i'm sorry, senator to . >> thank you, mr. chairman. doctor kent brantly, mr. charles, thank you for being here. mr. charles, when you go back and see her daughters, i hope that you share with them that the purpose of this committee should try to make sure that we can process enough to make sure that we can provide what is needed from a standpoint of the resources. there are pieces of government responsibility to get them there and to train and equip and we have to make sure that we have the resources, and what you have

shared with us, both of you, it is invaluable from a standpoint of how we look at it and, as both senators said, to see the human face on the issue. it's absolutely crucial to those of us that sit on this committee and in this institution and ask taxpayers to fund things from people that they will never meet. but i do have a couple of questions. doctor brantley, are you convinced that z-mapp played a role in your care? >> thank you, senator. my opinion -- >> i.t. program from a standpoint of supportive care -- >> i was receiving the best care that they can afford to give me in liberia. my own opinion is that the z-mapp, i believe, have a beneficial effect in my

treatment. but as doctor anthony fauci said, this is an experimental drug that my story is an anecdote and while very convincing as one, it is just one. they really were wires more extensive testing an experimental drugs to prove whether it is beneficial on a large scale. and i'm very thankful for it the gentleman and all the individuals because i think it was helpful to me and i think it will be helpful in future ebola outbreaks. >> let me say when the chairman referred to he was concerned about this, i think that we have are ready spiraled and i think that we are in that spiral right now. and i think had we had more time

, we would understand that we are probably, january at the earliest, for therapy. that is without extensive clinical trials come as you can imagine. the january of the first quarter with potentially some vaccine product. and you know if we are talking about a five-month clinical trial process, we have accelerated it greatly and we are going to break every failsafe that exists at the fda, just like they did in the decision to administer z-mapp to you. because it's under jurisdiction of this committee, we want to understand that we are going to sort of re-create this because this is an extraordinary circumstance and i guess i am asking for your medical opinion as somebody that knows the folks that are being affected.

and if we choose to go before everything with some type of therapeutic response, is that the best course for us to follow or should we be prudent knowing that we know a little bit more about the turkey? >> i think that who came out with a statement several weeks ago saying they believe it is ethical to use experimental drugs and circumstances like this. and i would agree with them that if we know, my kids didn't even know if it would be harmful or not. i think you're going to start giving it to people who do not have the background to be able to give, to relieve give understood and conformed

consent, it's important that we know that what we are giving them if safe and potentially beneficial. and i think that those types of drugs and especially vaccines, the other panel has spoken out better than i can. but it would have a role if we don't have this under control by january. >> talking about every infected individuals somewhere between five and 20 additional individuals, the multiples are huge. and i think i have heard both of you say that when we look at sierra leone, in the last 21

days, do you think that those are woefully understating the size of the problem? did i hear both of you correctly? >> yes, senator. >> okay. >> may i just speak a moment on that. i think those numbers may be underestimated for sure, but what i think is what you're saying is a representation of how quickly things are growing as compared to the numbers that are growing now and those experimental drugs don't have anything to do with the transmission and that is why we need to intervene in the communities to disrupt the transmission of this disease. >> when the cdc said that now, now it's like tomorrow. i'm not sure that we have this turnaround out of government. facing the reality of what is in front of us is also important.

and so what are the possibilities of using social media as our tool in west africa and can that be effective reign. >> especially among young people in the population and those that also have access to other forms, and the costs are expensive compared to what i can access on my cell phone compared to what i can access in sierra leone on a monthly basis. and so it is very expensive and

so definitely has a lot of information that can be missed reading also. and a lot of this information is communicated through what has happened. >> i agree. i think even up until this point using social media and radio and print media to reach the population, there's a catchy tune about it on the radio reminding people that it is real and they need to protect themselves and their emily's as to how the disease is spread and i think it is a very important means of reaching people. >> i want to thank both of you.

whenever you have a tragedy somewhere in the world, they are certainly there and they are part of the story and i think a lot of those in north carolina and the commitment, not to say we don't have a lot of good ngos in the world that respond, but they are consistently there and for that we are very grateful and i thank you both. >> thank you. >> i had a point and first, thank you to both of you. and i want to make sure i understand something you said. you said that you became -- you begin to treat patients on june 11 and became ill on july 20? >> july 23. >> about how many patients did you treat? >> i believe during that time we

had about 25 or 50 patients come through her unit and not everyone of those was positive for ebola, but many of those that were negative died within being days within the severe illness. >> so 45 or 50, all of them died? >> there were some that tested negative and we discharge them from the unit. >> so of those 45 or 50, some had ebola. >> i can't remember the numbers exactly, but i but i would say probably 25 had ebola and probably 10 or 12 of them were tested negative and discharged and that could leave another five or so other then ebola that died because of the severity of the illness. >> he became ill on july 23 and

he said something about a two-week course, do you mean that within two weeks you know whether you are going to recover enact or die if you have ebola? >> in general, most people with ebola, they usually, if they die from it, they died between days 110, but it can be 14 or 16 day illness. so you can't say you're out of the woods. that's not the case. >> do you have become infected and you don't infect others until you have symptoms? >> that is correct. >> there's a period of time of about two weeks or a week or two when you can impact other people, plus the time after you die, there is that during a time? >> correct yankee contract the virus and you have a two to 21 they window before you can

become symptomatic and then once you become symptomatic, you are illness may run from three days where you die after three days or you may be sick for two weeks. in my case, i was sick for almost four weeks before the cdc decided that my test or negative enough consecutive times that they could discharge me from the hospital. >> so people are infectious during their illness and usually that is less than two or three weeks? >> what is really different about this epidemic is how fast it moves. is that right? >> the virus moves quickly. it kills quickly. and locked in like doctor anthony fauci and doctor beth bell talked about. it's not like the flu virus can get by sitting near someone with it. but it kills its victims quickly. >> within that two-week period of infections, one might infect

five to 20 other people and they have an incubation period of two to 21 days and they may have a two-week. lack of infection in which they might infect five to 20 more people so that happens very rapidly? >> yes, sir. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. and again, thank you very much for being here and for your patience and for sharing with us your personal stories. the obama administration is moving rapidly on this, present obama was down at the cdc. ourselves we are working here to rapidly respond and to support the president in this effort. i think the right time is of the essence.

but it has to be done correctly rather than rushing in and doing things that may even make it worse. and certainly we need to get the equipment there and the personal protection here for home health care workers in these countries and we need to do a rapid series of educational programs in these countries so that the local populace begins to know what to do and how to respond to not be afraid. and that needs to be done rapidly. i trust that there are ngos and you know that you are here and they can be very helpful on us, i believe. and they have been here for some times and have had good relations with these people in

these countries. so as we do this rapidly, i hope that we will learn from and lean on and ask the help of the ngos that are in these countries. and we need to ask them for their help. >> i hope and trust, mr. charles, that your wife and your daughters are safe and that they hear any of this at all, i want them to be assured that you will be back home and you will be saved. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, thank you doctor kent brantly for your great example. >> the record will remain open for 10 days or a thank you so much. we stand adjourned.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> senate republican leader mitch mcconnell used part of his leaders time to talk about is the port for the presidents ebola initiative and his comments were followed by senator lamar alexander. for cemented a president obama willo visit the centers for disease control and prevention announced

new efforts to contain the ebola epidemic in africa. the african command will stand a joint force command in liberia . to provide command and control of u.s. military activities intl help to coordinate international relief efforts. estimates are that 3000 military personnel will establish an and intermediate staging base for supplies and equipment and set an a training site to provide medical care to patients and apl defense department hospital to take t care of any of our health care workers who become ill. and ilalso contributing to the national reaction to thisnation epidemic is the u.s. agency for international development and the cdc has employed personnel to africa and the ltnational institute of health has evolved and invest additional ebola t

vaccine. and they are also working with the customs and border patrol to identify any signs of infectioue disease. i support these efforts comparing the ebola epidemic an. know that we will monitor this humanitarian crisis in the weeks ahead. a perio >> under the previous order, the senate will be in morning business until 12:30 p.m. from r senators from to 10 minutesrom each. tennessee. >> thank you, mr. president. before discussing the labor relb legislation involving the -- national aber relations board which the republican leader mention, i would like to align e myself with his comments on the, ebola epidemic. he is right, in my view, to support the president's effort to form an urgent response toakg

this epidemic and i am not given to making overstatements and i think that that would be a reputation in this body, but i d believe that we should treat the ebola epidemic as seriously as we treat the danger of ebola. because the center for ahead of disease control and our united nations ambassador that is working with other countries get them involved say this. that this is one of the most deadly and explosive epidemics in modern times. it moves rapidly and there is no vaccine and there is no cure. and one infected person can very nuickly in fact 20 other persons within a family c in these westa african countries where it is hw now a problem. one can see how ugly this can spread and hundreds of thousands

of cases and even millions of cases and we should be running towards earning flames with ourw fireproof suits on. in other control it and we know how toled identify infected people and isolate them and treat them andt we know how to do that. as but this epidemic is so rapid that we need to have a response that is as urgent as the problem and i can congratulate the republican leader foresid suppog the leaders effort today for cal putting an important situation here. so much has happened as we woulj treator the ebola epidemic as an important issue but not a majore issue. and as i have said, mr. president, i believe that we

must take the danebgolerous thre of ebola as seriously as we have taken the threat of isis.nistram and i support the 30ministration's to spend $30 million in the the. continuing resolution to upgrade the humanitarian effort and i support the reprogramming of $500 million to deal with this and i support the effort of $86 million to be spent to vaccd fast-track an effort to find a vaccine and also to find a cure. >> coming up next on c-span2, governor bobby jindal talks about his energy proposal and nancy pelosi talks a lot students about her career in congress. and later president obama introduces a new initiative to

fight the spread of ebola. followed by a senate health committee hearing on the ebola outbreak in west africa. >> almanacs "washington journal", we will talk with doctor scott gottlieb of the ebola outbreak and president obama's fight to help tackle the virus. and we will be joined by a member of the hispanic immigration caucus. we will continue our conversation with our guests. "washington journal" is live every morning on c-span. we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. >> the house benghazi committee holds its first hearing on

tuesday. you can see the hearing live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. >> here are just a few of the comments we have received from our viewers. >> i love your programs, but you have changed the writing on the bottom of the people in the place and it's so small that i have to get up and walk over there to see it. it is just about a third smaller and i really wish that you would change it back to the other format. >> white is c-span favor republicans over democrats. i'm not sure why they cut off

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twitter. >> bobby jindal was the guest speaker at a rec list hosted by the christian science monitor. the governor who is considering a presidential run in 2016 spoke about his energy proposal and took questions on a range of issues including the louisiana senate race. this is 50 minutes. >> okay, here we go. thank you for coming. our guest this morning is louisiana governor bobby jindal. and his last visit was in march, so we will thank you. the son of immigrants, he graduated from brown at 20 are sold with a degree in biology and public policy and then studied at oxford as a rhodes scholar, having turndown acceptances to harvard medical school and yale law. after briefly working at 24, he began as an employee and then he

became executive director of the national bipartisan commission in the future of medicare. then came a two-year tour as president of the university of louisiana which led to president bush nominating him at age 30 as assistant secretary of health and human services area and he ran for governor in 2003, but in 2004 was elected to the house, the first since 1956 and he was elected governor louisiana in 2007, at 36, the youngest in the nation at that time and reelected 66% of the vote in october 2013. the governor has three young children. he corrected me the last time. now on to the recitation of ground rules on the record here. please no live lobbying work tweeting while the breakfast is under way.

to help you resist that obama surge, we will e-mail several to reporters here if you'd like to ask questions, please send me a photo and i will happily answer questions. we will move questions around the table and then we will stop at 10:05 a.m. >> thank you all for allowing me to come back. it's a great honor to be here. back in the spring we unveiled our health care reporter and i was the first of an organization i helped to start. voting to create the ability to move our country forward. i'm here to talk about her second policy proposal making sure that america realizes our potential as a superpower. we have given you a report of

over 40 pages with policy recommendations for the sake of your time, i'm not going to go through each and every one of those this morning, but instead as i would get some opening remarks and then open it up for questions and you can lead the report and recommendations. >> imagine, if you would, oil, coal, natural gas we produce more than any other country in the world. including another country that has more than half the resources in this country, and imagine that same country having the largest nuclear power base as well. not many folks might understand that it's not saudi arabia, but it's the united states of america. a. we are blessed and that is good

news. the bad news is that we have a choice to make. ..