House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and more than 200 of his GOP colleagues have called for Nancy Pelosi to direct her Democrat-led commit...
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and more than 200 of his GOP colleagues have called for Nancy Pelosi to direct her Democrat-led committees to investigate China's complicity in causing the COVID pandemic.
In a letter to the Democratic House Speaker, the Republicans said there is 'mounting evidence the pandemic started in a Chinese lab' and the Chinese Communist Party 'covered it up'.
'If that is the case, the CCP is responsible for the deaths of almost 600,000 Americans and millions more worldwide. These questions about the CCP’s liability are not a diversion, as you falsely claimed,' the letter reads.
'To the contrary, every American family that lost someone deserves answers about the origin of this terrible virus, and House Democrats’ ongoing refusal to allocate investigative resources to get those answers is an affront to them.
'Repeatedly, House Republicans called for a full investigation to address the CCP’s complicity in obscuring the origins of COVID-19. Repeatedly, our requests were ignored. Instead, House Democrats pursued a radical left-wing agenda that is pushing the economy toward the highest inflation rates since 1979.'
Republicans upped their demands for an investigation as House members were set to introduce two new COVID-related bills, one that would allow victims' families to sue China and another that would set up a 9/11-style commission to look into the origins of the pandemic.
It follows reports that President Biden's call to US intelligence agencies to report back on the virus origins in 90 days was sparked by claims they have a raft of 'unexamined evidence'.
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and more than 200 of his GOP colleagues have called for Nancy Pelosi to direct her Democrat-led committees to investigate China's complicity in causing the COVID pandemic
'If that is the case, the CCP is responsible for the deaths of almost 600,000 Americans and millions more worldwide. These questions about the CCP’s liability are not a diversion, as you falsely claimed,' the letter reads
This evidence requires additional computer analysis and could lead to more information surfacing about the lab leak theory, the lab workers who were infected before the pandemic spread across the world and how COVID spread around Wuhan, The New York Times reported.
As of Friday, 593,292 Americans had died of COVID and more than 33,217,000 had been infected.
Fox News reported Friday that Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb and Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, both of Pennsylvania, will be releasing the 'Never Again International Outbreak Prevention Act,' which will strip China's sovereign immunity against lawsuits.
The bill also targets any other countries 'that have intentionally misled the international community on the outbreak.'
A second bill, the 'Made in America Emergency Preparedness Act,' had been introduced in the last Congress by Fitzpatrick as well.
Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli (left) is seen inside the laboratory in Wuhan, China. The White House said Wednesday that the U.S. intelligence agencies are split on their belief on the origins of COVID-19, with some officials believing it escaped from a lab
He is being joined by four additional Republicans and five Democrats for the version being presented in this Congress.
The bill would form a bipartisan, 9/11 style commission that would look into the origins of COVID-19 and the U.S. response, Fox said.
It would be responsible for giving recommendations to the White House and Congress on what supplies needed to be American-made to combat a future physical or medical national disaster.
Shortages of personal protective equipment impacted medical workers' ability to safely care for infected Americans at the beginning of the pandemic last year.
'In response to this current crisis, we must never again find ourselves caught off-guard, unable to protect our communities,' a press release announcing the bill said. 'We should never again see nearly 600,000 American lives lost at risk and day to day life turned upside down.'
Fitzpatrick sent out a strongly worded statement Monday - even before the White House shared declassified intelligence that said the U.S. intelligence community couldn't come to an agreement on the origins of the virus - urging 'we need answers now.'
The intelligence community is split on its thinking on whether COVID-19 originated naturally, traveling from animal to human, or escaped from a Wuhan lab.
'There is strong reason to believe that false reporting and a cover-up has taken place regarding the true origins of the coronavirus. We deserve answers. Come hell or high water, I will not stop until we get them,' the Pennsylvania Republican said.
Pennsylvania Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (left), a Republican, and Conor Lamb (right), a Democrat are introducing legislation that would allow COVID-19 victims to sue China and other countries that 'have intentionally misled the international community on the outbreak'
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