Why One House Democrat Is Calling for a New CDC Director

Days after tweeting that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky should be replaced with Dr. Ashish Jha, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) appeared on Fox News to explain. 

Though his tweet did not mention Walensky by name, the Democrat said Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, “has been a national treasure in helping us get through the pandemic with reason, facts, compassion, and equal concern for the lives of all. Put him in charge of the CDC!”

.@ashishkjha has been a national treasure in helping us get through the pandemic with reason, facts, compassion, and equal concern for the lives of all. Put him in charge of the CDC! https://t.co/msM50SZI3u

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) January 9, 2022

Walensky, meanwhile, has taken heat over her messaging failures and has sought media training to help.

Fox News’s Martha MacCallum asked Khanna if he thought “a new CDC director would make a difference” on the messaging front. 

“We need someone who is compassionate, who is consistent and where the messaging is clear,” Khanna responded. “And we need someone who’s going to really help make sure that we have testing for everyone, that we have masks for everyone, that we’re getting that done. So, I have floated Ashish Jha. There may be others, but I do think we need a clearer, better communication.”

Khanna also took issue with the administration’s failures on testing and masks.

“It’s one thing for the country not to be able to produce semiconductors and that being in South Korea and Taiwan. That’s a real problem,” he said. “But come on! Masks? Testing? Two years into this? This is America. We should be able to get everyone an N95 mask. We should be able to have universal testing.”