Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified the Committee that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been debarred for ten years.

“This news is long overdue and should have happened years ago. The federal government has no business sending Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to such a dangerous institution. The Wuhan Institute of Virology—under pressure by the Chinese Communist Party—was part of a group that stifled a global investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a continued loss of human life. 

“The Biden administration is finally doing what the evidence and facts have demanded. It is outrageous that it took them so long. HHS must now consider a similar debarment for EcoHealth Alliance. 

“The American people deserve every assurance that they will not be forced to fund risky research, especially in unsafe conditions within adversarial nations.” 

READ:  

July 2023: E&C Republicans Statement on Suspension of Funding and Proposed Debarment of WIV 

July 2023: E&C Investigation Reveals Key NIH Officials—Including Dr. Fauci—Likely Served Unlawfully  

January 2023: Chair Rodgers: HHS’s OIG Report Confirms our Concerns with NIH’s Funding of EcoHealth Alliance  

October 2022: E&C Republicans to NIH: Why Resume Taxpayer-Supported Grant Funding to EcoHealth?  

February 2022: E&C Republican Leaders Push NIH for Stronger Enforcement of Grants Policies and Compliance Information Regarding EcoHealth Alliance  

August 2021: E&C Republican Leaders Request Further Info From NIH & NIAID Following Concerns of Wuhan Lab Biosafety Procedures  

June 2021: E&C Republicans Send Second Letter to NIH Director Regarding Grants Issued to EcoHealth Alliance