WASHINGTON, DC – This month, Congressman Kweisi Mfume (D-MD-07) and Congressman Jonathan L. Jackson (D-IL-01) introduced the Epidemic Barrier and Outbreak Leadership Act, or the EBOLA Act (H.R.10345), which would require the President to rejoin the World Health Organization within 30 days of enactment and direct the United States to begin working with the WHO immediately on the Ebola outbreak in Central and Eastern Africa. The bill is the House companion to legislation introduced by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Per the World Health Organization's September 6 Situation Report, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has passed 6,500 confirmed cases and 3,200 confirmed deaths in a little over two months, a faster rate of spread than any previous Ebola outbreak. By comparison, the 2014 West Africa outbreak had roughly 40 suspected cases when the international response began. Fighting between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 has cut off humanitarian access to some of the areas where the virus is spreading fastest, and the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are running the global response without American participation.
"President Trump pulled the United States out of the World Health Organization and told Americans we would be safer for it. It was a foolish decision the day he made it, and sadly, with Ebola now spreading faster than any outbreak of it we have seen, it did not take long to become a dangerous one," said Congressman Kweisi Mfume. "This Administration also cut foreign assistance and stalled funding for the vaccine organizations that stop outbreaks abroad before they reach us, including Gavi. Every one of those choices made this crisis worse and left Americans more vulnerable. Protecting American families means working alongside the health experts tracking this virus, not turning our backs on them. The House should take this bill up without delay."
"Every American family should be concerned that when this dangerous outbreak began, our own government did not hear about it for nine days because we are no longer in the room,” said Congressman Jonathan L. Jackson. “While Ebola continues to spread and communities are living in fear and desperate for support, the United States is on the sidelines, cruelly abandoning the humanitarian mission that our nation guided for decades. In June, I co-led a letter with 74 of my colleagues warning that America’s retreat from the global health system would leave us exposed and vulnerable. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CDC Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya did not heed our warnings, and that’s exactly what has happened. The answer is straightforward: America is safer when we invest in partnerships that have long advanced both our moral responsibilities and American interests. I am proud to co-lead this legislation with Congressman Mfume to require the U.S. to rejoin the WHO and stop treating the health of families in Central and Eastern Africa as separate from the health of families on the South Side of Chicago.”
President Trump signed Executive Order 14155 in January 2025 beginning the withdrawal of the United States from the WHO, and the withdrawal was completed in January 2026. It ended nearly all American support for the organization and pulled back U.S. personnel and contracts. One consequence is that the State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cannot retrieve personal protective equipment that American taxpayers paid for and that is being held in WHO facilities near the affected region. Another is timing: the United States did not learn of this outbreak until nine days after the WHO did.
Additional House Cosponsors include: Yvette Clarke, Jasmine Crockett, Danny Davis, Madeleine Dean, Jonathan Jackson, Pramila Jayapal, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Stephen Lynch, Sarah McBride, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Johnny Olszewski, Ilhan Omar, Deborah Ross, Rashida Tlaib, Nydia Velazquez.
Additional Senate Cosponsors include: Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine, John Hickenlooper, Amy Klobuchar, Jacky Rosen, Chris Coons, Alex Padilla, Chris Murphy, Tammy Baldwin, Jeff Merkley.
Click HERE to read the bill's full text.
The EBOLA Act would:
- Require the President to rejoin the WHO no later than 30 days after enactment, and require the United States to begin collaborating with the organization immediately on the outbreak in Central and Eastern Africa; and
- Authorize the appropriations needed to carry out the Act, including membership dues and voluntary or programmatic support aimed at stopping the spread of Ebola.
###