WASHINGTON — Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, called Wednesday for the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to step down, hours after a second health care worker in Dallas tested positive for Ebola.

When pressed by conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham if Dr. Tom Frieden should be fired, Sessions said, “My opinion is yes.”Sessions, a member of House GOP leadership, said he’s still waiting on an effective response from Frieden on whether a travel ban is needed to stop Ebola. After the disease was diagnosed in a Dallas patient, Sessions posed the question to Frieden when they spoke by phone.In their conversation, Sessions said, Frieden referred him to an article he wrote two weeks prior that criticized the idea of a travel ban.“I said ... ‘That was academic. That was before now,’” Sessions recalled to Ingraham. “They still have not come up with a better answer.”Sessions has been advocating for a travel ban, along with several other Texas lawmakers — though health experts and the White House have resisted the idea.His call for Frieden’s resignation comes as Frieden faces rising criticism for his handling of Ebola in the U.S. Frieden has repeatedly said that the U.S. can stop Ebola in its tracks.The newest Ebola patient, nurse Amber Vinson, tended to Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient who died of the disease in the U.S. The worker's diagnosis comes days after the virus was confirmed in Nina Pham, who also treated Duncan.On Tuesday, Frieden admitted the agency regretted its initial response to the disease's diagnosis in Texas. He said authorities could have done more to prevent Ebola from spreading at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.Calling Dallas “ground zero” for Ebola, Sessions blasted the Obama administration and the CDC for a “learn-as-you-go” strategy that he said has put lives at risk. He cited the 75 Dallas health care workers being monitored for symptoms as a particular cause for concern.“They were willing just to be academic about this and talk about percentages, rather than the hard-nosed work that is required to understand this terrible disease,” Sessions said.At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest reiterated this afternoon that the president retains full confidence in Frieden and doesn't intend a shakeup.“This administration has been guided by the science, by our medical experts who have experience in dealing with Ebola outbreaks,” he said.