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..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member)

117

TH

CONGRESS 1

ST

S

ESSION

H. R.

ll

To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID–19, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. G

ALLAGHER

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

llllllllllllll

A BILL

To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID–19, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Origin Act

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of 2021’’.

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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

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Congress makes the following findings:

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2 (1) The Department of State released a fact

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sheet on January 15, 2021, about the Wuhan Insti-

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tute of Virology (WIV) which stated the following:

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(A) ‘‘The U.S. government has reason to

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believe that several researchers inside the WIV

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became sick in autumn 2019, before the first

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identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms

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consistent with both COVID–19 and common

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seasonal illnesses.’’.

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(B) ‘‘WIV researchers conducted experi-

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ments involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus

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identified by the WIV in January 2020 as its

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closest sample to SARS-CoV-2.’’.

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(C) ‘‘Despite the WIV presenting itself as

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a civilian institution, the United States has de-

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termined that the WIV has collaborated on pub-

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lications and secret projects with China’s mili-

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tary.’’.

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(2) Former Director of the Centers for Disease

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Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, stated in

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March 2021 that, ‘‘the most likely etiology of this

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pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory’’ and

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noted that, ‘‘[i]t is not unusual for respiratory

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pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory

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to infect the laboratory worker.’’.

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3 (3) Director-General of the World Health Orga-

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nization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowl-

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edged in March 2021 that the Coronavirus Disease

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2019 (COVID–19) may have originated in a labora-

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tory and said this hypothesis ‘‘requires further inves-

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tigation, potentially with additional missions involv-

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ing specialist experts.’’.

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SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

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It is the sense of Congress that—

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(1) identifying the origin of Coronavirus Dis-

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ease 2019 (COVID–19) is critical for preventing a

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similar pandemic from occurring in the future;

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(2) there is reason to believe the COVID–19

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pandemic may have originated at the Wuhan Insti-

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tute of Virology; and

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(3) the Director of National Intelligence should

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declassify and make available to the public as much

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information as possible about the origin of COVID–

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19 so the United States and like-minded countries

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can—

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(A) identify the origin of COVID–19 as ex-

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peditiously as possible, and

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(B) use that information to take all appro-

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priate measures to prevent a similar pandemic

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from occurring again.

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