House Maj. Leader McCarthy: US Should Focus on Ebola Cure

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says the United States should focus on a cure for Ebola, though he doesn't think it's a bad idea to ask questions about ways to keep the deadly virus from spreading.

"I think it's right to ask the questions," McCarthy said Sunday on "Face the Nation."

The California Republican was responding to suggestions by members of his own party that flights from Western African countries affected by the outbreak be banned or that U.S. military members could catch the virus while in Africa helping to set up aid.

But, McCarthy said, "I'm not a medical expert. I want to listen to the medical experts."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the transmission risk is low, even following the first diagnoses of a patient on U.S. soil, Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas.

McCarthy said Congress is providing funding to support the effort, but added he would like to see a specific plan.

"We've got to go to the core of the problem, solve it there (in Africa) and invest in a vaccine and a treatment so we cure it once and for all," he said.

On another issue, McCarthy said he favors giving the military whatever it needs to make sure personnel are safe in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), but he said he also wants them to have the ability to carry out the mission "as fast and as lopsided as possible."

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