The current Ebola crisis is escalating quickly. Thousands of people have been infected and killed in several African countries, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.

The World Health Organization has guaranteed its ability to contain the epidemic if one billion dollars in funding is provided. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t seem to care, as not 2% of this financial necessity has been met. It is astounding to look at the amount of money the US government uses that could be used to help the WHO contain and end Ebola. The Pentagon has admitted to spending over one billion dollars so far on military operations involving ISIS, with the current pace running at some $10 million per day.

Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments believes the annual bill for the conflict will range from $4 billion to $22 billion, and a 500 billion dollar budget for the defense department. With all this money being tossed around by the US, it’s astonishing that a simple bill costing $88 million to fund containment for the Ebola crisis takes months to pass (and still hasn’t been funded in full), but why?

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is urging his colleagues to block any additional funding to combat Ebola. “I strongly support addressing this crisis with the full force of the government to help bring the epidemic under control,” he wrote. “However, I ask you to oppose fully allowing the additional $1 billion in reprogramming requests until previously requested additional information is available for members of Congress to be fully briefed.” Vitter wants all of his colleagues to wait until they return to the issue in mid November to decide on funding. Vitter’s lackadaisical attitude toward the epidemic will cost lives, both American and foreign. If we wait too long, the Ebola problem will spin out of control, and Vitter and those who agree with him will see their mistakes loud and clear.