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 it had suspended funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and proposed debarment: 

“Our committee has led a comprehensive investigation that has uncovered numerous reasons to debar the WIV and prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding risky research done at inappropriate biosafety levels. HHS’s own inspector general confirmed our concerns about the WIV in a January report. We’ve questioned the Inspector General as well as Secretary Xavier Becerra and NIH’s head official Dr. Lawrence Tabak about decisions to continue funding research at the lab. If that wasn’t enough, our committee has uncovered that Dr. Anthony Fauci wasn’t lawfully appointed when he approved the latest grant to EcoHealth Alliance in 2022.  

“It’s past time that the Biden administration made this decision, but they deserve no credit for finally doing what the evidence and facts demanded. It is outrageous that it took them so long. HHS must now consider a similar debarment for EcoHealth Alliance.” 

READ: 

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