[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 46 (Friday, March 10, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1255-H1260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      COVID-19 ORIGIN ACT OF 2023

  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 199, I call 
up the bill (S. 619) to require the Director of National Intelligence 
to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for 
other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 199, the bill 
is considered read.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 619

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Origin Act of 
     2023''.

     SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) identifying the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 
     (COVID-19) is critical for preventing a similar pandemic from 
     occurring in the future;
       (2) there is reason to believe the COVID-19 pandemic may 
     have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and
       (3) the Director of National Intelligence should declassify 
     and make available to the public as much information as 
     possible about the origin of COVID-19 so the United States 
     and like-minded countries can--
       (A) identify the origin of COVID-19 as expeditiously as 
     possible, and
       (B) use that information to take all appropriate measures 
     to prevent a similar pandemic from occurring again.

     SEC. 3. DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO THE ORIGIN 
                   OF COVID-19.

       Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall--
       (1) declassify any and all information relating to 
     potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and 
     the origin of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), 
     including--
       (A) activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology 
     with or on behalf of the People's Liberation Army;
       (B) coronavirus research or other related activities 
     performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the 
     outbreak of COVID-19; and
       (C) researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who fell 
     ill in autumn 2019, including for any such researcher--
       (i) the researcher's name;
       (ii) the researcher's symptoms;
       (iii) the date of the onset of the researcher's symptoms;
       (iv) the researcher's role at the Wuhan Institute of 
     Virology;
       (v) whether the researcher was involved with or exposed to 
     coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology;
       (vi) whether the researcher visited a hospital while they 
     were ill; and
       (vii) a description of any other actions taken by the 
     researcher that may suggest they were experiencing a serious 
     illness at the time; and
       (2) submit to Congress an unclassified report that 
     contains--
       (A) all of the information described under paragraph (1); 
     and
       (B) only such redactions as the Director determines 
     necessary to protect sources and methods.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 1 hour 
equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member 
of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence or their respective 
designees.
  The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner) and the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Himes), each will control 30 minutes.
  The chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner).

                              {time}  0915


                             General Leave

  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert 
into the Record extraneous material on S. 619.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 619, a bill that would require 
the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information 
relating to the origin of COVID-19. The House companion bill, H.R. 
1376, passed unanimously out of the Intelligence Committee.
  I thank Ranking Member Himes for his dedication to bipartisanship and 
professionalism as we work together to try to ensure that the 
Intelligence Committee responds to the needs of the House.
  Madam Speaker, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the 
country, with almost every household feeling its effects. The United 
States death toll from this virus has surpassed 1 million people.
  Although concrete data is hard to lock down, millions of Americans 
are suffering from the long-term effects directly attributed to this 
virus.
  COVID-19 has also negatively affected our communities, especially our 
kids. It has become increasingly clear that school-age children face 
major educational hurdles because of distance learning and long-term 
school closures.
  The American public deserves answers to every aspect of the COVID-19 
pandemic, including how this virus was created, and specifically, 
whether it was a natural occurrence or was the result of a lab-related 
event.
  The House Intelligence Committee which oversees our intelligence 
community is aware of classified information that could help inform the 
public why COVID-19 as a lab leak theory is not just a possibility but 
approaches the idea that it is likely.
  The intelligence community does have more information about COVID-19 
than the public is led to believe. Much of the information they have 
can be declassified and disseminated to the public. In fact, the bill 
we are discussing today would give the American public just a glimpse, 
albeit a very important aspect, of the classified information the 
intelligence community holds.
  S. 619, if passed by the House and signed into law, would give the 
American public a unique insight as to what was happening at a 
biosafety level laboratory in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and early 
2020. This laboratory and who was working there might be the key to 
unraveling the truth.
  For those concerned about declassifying COVID-19 origins information, 
I can assure you that the intelligence community could release this 
information while protecting their sources and methods of how it was 
collected. In fact, I believe that the intelligence community could go 
further than what is called for in S. 619 and release most of what it 
knows about COVID origins, but this is a good start.
  COVID-19 ranks as one of this century's most important events. No 
community was spared, and every corner of the world felt its effects. 
Everyone deserves to know what our intelligence community knows, and S. 
619 is the right step in the right direction.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 619, the COVID-19 Origins Act 
of 2023. Along with my colleague, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Turner), 
I plan to support this legislation, and I urge the House to pass it. 
Let me stop now to compliment Chairman Turner on the efforts he has 
made narrowly to bring this bill to the floor, but more generally, to 
make sure that the Intelligence Committee operates in the thoughtful, 
constructive, and bipartisan manner which it must operate in if we are 
to protect this Nation's national security.
  The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of more than 1.1 million 
Americans, and millions more have died worldwide. The American people 
want to know as much as we can determine about where this pandemic 
started and critically how we can be ready for the next deadly disease, 
which will come.
  Determining the precise origins of a pandemic disease with high 
confidence is challenging under the best of circumstances. In this 
case, our already difficult task is that much harder because COVID 
originated in China.
  At every juncture, the PRC Government has obfuscated and obstructed 
legitimate inquiries and investigations into the origins of the 
disease. China's approach has been deeply irresponsible and dangerous 
to global public health.
  It is against that backdrop that in 2021 President Biden ordered a 
90-day sprint by the intelligence community to analyze the origins of 
the virus. In

[[Page H1256]]

August of 2021, the IC completed its initial work, and a few months 
later, a declassified version of its findings was made public.
  In short, the intelligence community agencies could not come to an 
agreement on whether the virus originated from a lab accident or from 
natural exposure. Some individual agencies did reach a judgment--a 
narrow judgment--about which path was more likely, but they could not 
do so with high confidence simply because we don't have enough reliable 
information to draw those conclusions. There is a version of the IC's 
classified assessment that is available to all Members through the 
House Security Office.
  Around 18 months after the completion of the IC assessment, not much 
has changed. The intelligence community remains focused on this 
question, and I hope that we will have a breakthrough that will allow 
us to answer these questions once and for all, but today we are not 
there yet.
  I believe that the IC should make as much public as they can, 
consistent with the overriding need to protect sources and methods. 
Transparency is a critical element of our democracy. The factual 
grounding of the IC's analysis can be an antidote to the speculation, 
the rumor, and the theories that grow in the absence of good 
information.

  It is important to note that the bill provides the authority to make 
redactions to protect sources and methods for a good reason, and 
neither the chairman nor I would be supporting the bill if that were 
not true. I trust the intelligence community and the administration 
will lean forward in making public as much new information as possible 
without endangering our ability to collect and analyze on these issues 
going forward.
  Now, I would mention two important things before I recognize other 
speakers on my side:
  First, the pandemic, which is really what is at stake here. Whether 
COVID-19 originated from a lab leak or natural transmission at a wet 
market, the next pandemic disease could originate from either source, 
and it could come from anywhere.
  In 2022, the Intelligence Committee released a declassified report 
looking at how the intelligence community responded to COVID-19 and 
made recommendations for how we can be better prepared for the next 
pandemic disease, wherever it may come from.
  Overall, the report recommended that the intelligence community 
increase resources for global health security and medical intelligence, 
and that it needs to move away from a culture that views health 
security as a lesser priority than so-called traditional hard national 
security threats; evidence the fact that it was this that killed over a 
million Americans.
  Furthermore, we need to promote complementary efforts between the 
public health and intelligence communities. Public health professionals 
and their counterparts in the IC must work hand-in-hand if we want to 
maximize the odds of identifying a novel disease at the earliest 
possible stage and if we want to give ourselves the best chance of 
determining the novel disease's origins.
  Let me turn briefly to another important thing that is really at 
stake here. Madam Speaker, democracy is rooted in the idea that the 
people govern, that it is their right to determine their own political 
destiny. With that right comes an obligation that we don't talk about 
or think about nearly enough, and that obligation is to be thoughtful, 
informed critical thinkers about the issues of the day.
  That is not who we are today. Today, we have elevated--because of our 
political polarization, we have elevated confirmation bias to a secular 
religion. Even in this conversation about the origins of the 
coronavirus, what you believe is indicative of where you stand on the 
political spectrum.
  For reasons I don't understand, some of our colleagues and many 
Americans are running around with a theory that somehow buttresses 
their political legitimacy. Maybe you do that with UFOs, maybe you want 
to believe that there are aliens at Roswell or whatever you want to 
believe; that is pretty harmless. But when we are talking about a 
pandemic or something as serious as a disease that could kill a million 
Americans, that is not okay, and we have to remember our obligation to 
be thoughtful critical thinkers. We cannot let our political hopes 
override the obligations we have to be thinkers.
  Madam Speaker, I tell my colleagues, the chairman and I have seen all 
of the classified information on this, and we don't know--we don't know 
the origins of the COVID pandemic. Whatever is ultimately declassified, 
I would hope that my colleagues and the American people would approach 
that information with the intellectual humility that we need to 
approach something as serious as a pandemic and how we behave as 
citizens in democracy.
  We don't know.
  We need to think about whether we want confirmation bias. Our 
tendency to select just those facts which support our preexisting 
positions interfere with our duty as critical thinkers in a democracy.
  At the end of the day, the American people will get the system of 
government that they deserve, and if we don't get back to being humble 
about what we know to being critical thinkers, our democracy will be at 
risk.
  I close with a quote from a great Connecticut writer and humorist, 
Mark Twain. He said: ``It ain't what you don't know that gets you into 
trouble. It is what you know for sure that just ain't so.''
  I am going to join my chairman in supporting this bill, and I hope it 
passes in overwhelming bipartisan fashion. I hope we take that 
information and use it for constructive purposes in the service of 
saving lives and buttressing our democracy.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I appreciate my ranking member's very 
thoughtful comments and remarks.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Garcia).
  Mr. GARCIA of California. Madam Speaker, the issue at hand is 
actually a simple one: it is whether or not to declassify data 
pertaining to the investigations into the origins of COVID. This is a 
simple vote. The simplicity of this vote is in stark contrast to the 
magnitude of the ramifications of this declassification process.
  By declassifying, we will be able to seek clarity, give transparency, 
and gain security, which is what the American people deserve.
  By declassifying, we have a chance to ensure that the 7 million 
people who died of COVID are honored correctly. This is a chance to 
hold China accountable for COVID and seek justice and a reckoning. 
Perhaps most importantly, it is a chance to prevent another man-made 
pandemic such as this from wreaking havoc on the planet again.
  I think it is shameful that some have politicized this issue. This 
isn't political at all. Declassifying this information is simply the 
right thing to do.
  I have personally been cleared to handle classified information since 
I was 18 years old, and the point of classifying information is to 
protect American lives, whether it is civilians and/or military 
personnel.

  Information that is classified is material that would cause damage, 
serious damage or exceptionally grave damage to national security if 
made publicly available.
  Now, the irony of this debate, however, is that the release of this 
data will actually save lives and help prevent the loss of life in the 
future. It will enhance our security, not degrade it. The continued 
overclassification of this data at the highest level actually poses the 
greatest threat to our Nation's security.
  This is an easy and simple ``yes'' vote. The implications of this 
will determine whether or not we are able to prevent such another 
catastrophic pandemic from paralyzing us and taking so many lives.
  I encourage all Members from both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes'' 
and enable us to get to the bottom of this, hold China accountable, and 
defend us against any future CCP threats.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Bera), a member of the Select Committee on the 
Coronavirus Pandemic.
  Mr. BERA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  This should be an easy vote because this is just about science. It is 
about understanding the origins of this virus

[[Page H1257]]

that created this pandemic that took at a minimum 7 million lives--
probably many more than that. It is just about science. We are not 
debating the geography of where this virus originated. We know that. We 
are debating how this novel virus evolved. This is a brand-new virus, 
and that should go without question.
  I hope this is a strong ``yes'' vote by both Democrats and 
Republicans.
  I think about this as a doctor and a scientist, someone who has spent 
a lot of my time in Congress looking at global health security, looking 
at pandemic preparedness. I am proud to serve on the select committee 
that is looking at coronavirus and the impact of this pandemic. My 
colleague, another physician, Dr. Wenstrup, is the chairman of that 
committee, and the ranking member is Dr. Raul Ruiz.
  Again, I think if we can take the politics out of this, we can 
actually understand what happened over these past 3 years, the impact 
it had not just on the United States but on the entire world.
  We can work together as Democrats and Republicans and hopefully the 
global scientific community to prevent the next pandemic. That is what 
this is about.

                              {time}  0930

  I don't know if we will ever find those origins if the Chinese 
Communist Party doesn't work with us. It is in their interests as well 
because they have suffered greatly. The Chinese people have suffered 
greatly from this pandemic.
  They ought to allow the best scientists in the world to go to ground 
zero, to the hot zone, to Wuhan, and try to understand how this virus 
evolved.
  Maybe it was a wet market. Maybe it was a lab leak. It is important 
for us to understand what it was because that then will allow us to 
address and shore up the system.
  If it was a lab leak, we ought to have the highest safety standards 
in the world if we are doing this kind of research. We ought to look at 
whether we should do gain-of-function research. That is a legitimate 
question. There is scientific debate about that, et cetera, but if it 
was a lab leak, we ought to understand that.
  We ought to come together as a global community and make sure we have 
the highest standards. If it was a wet market, if this was a naturally 
occurring virus that came from an animal into a human, we ought to 
understand that, as well. We ought to put in the safety and precautions 
to make sure that doesn't happen in the future.
  Let's take the politics out of it. Today, we have a chance as the 
United States Congress to take a big vote, Democrats and Republicans, 
to say: Let's try to figure out what happened.
  It affected all of us, and we ought to do everything we can as the 
United States Congress, Democrats and Republicans, and as a global 
scientific community to prevent this from happening again in our 
lifetime and, hopefully, ever again.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to 
vote ``yes'' on this bill. It will allow us to share information with 
the public because, again, this affected all of us. I hope we have a 
strong ``yes'' vote on the COVID origins bill.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Crawford).
  Mr. CRAWFORD. Madam Speaker, this bill is the beginning of 
transparency Americans deserve regarding COVID's entry into our Nation, 
a virus that has killed more than a million of our loved ones here at 
home and millions more across the world.
  Our colleagues on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic 
will piece together all the facts and share them with the public, 
including the role played by elements of our government and the media 
to try to discredit those who told the truth about COVID.
  This bill is focused on safe disclosure of what our intelligence 
agencies have learned about the central role foreign actors had in the 
creation and spread of this deadly virus.
  It is important that Americans and others across the globe learn 
about the Chinese Communist Party's coverup of COVID's origins at its 
Wuhan research facility, as well as the World Health Organization's 
subsequent role in suppressing this truth.
  Until China and others who echo China's false narrative face 
accountability and consequences for that, we are just inviting the next 
coverup.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Mississippi (Mr. Kelly).
  Mr. KELLY of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to encourage 
Members to support passage of S. 619, a bill that requires the Director 
of National Intelligence to declassify information related to the 
origin of COVID-19.
  The need for transparency regarding the origin of this pandemic 
cannot be overstated, especially as the world continues to grapple with 
its effects.
  I thank Chairman Turner for his leadership on this issue, and I thank 
the Senate Intelligence Committee for their diligent work.
  As you all know, the COVID-19 pandemic and the government's chaotic 
response have had a devastating impact on our Nation and the world. It 
has caused loss of life, disrupted our economy, and fundamentally 
changed our way of life.
  We owe it to the American people to inform them where this virus 
originated and how. Republican Members charged with oversight have 
always been champions of transparency and accountability. By supporting 
this bill, we are showing the American people that we take this 
responsibility seriously. Republicans are keeping their promise to do 
everything within our power to get the truth and hold those responsible 
accountable.
  To date, the source of the virus remains unclear, and there are 
strong indications that it may have originated from a laboratory in 
Wuhan, China.
  The American people deserve answers. They deserve to know the truth 
about the origin of this pandemic. Without transparency, the public 
will turn to malign actors for information, further undermining our 
citizens' trust in the government and its intelligence agencies.
  As we know, trust is a vital component of any successful democracy. 
When citizens do not trust their government, it destabilizes society 
and strains the fabric that binds our communities together.
  The intelligence community has a responsibility to provide the 
American people with accurate information that can help them make 
informed decisions. By declassifying the information on COVID-19, the 
DNI can help restore the public's trust in our intelligence community.
  Madam Speaker, I urge support for passage of S. 619. It is our duty 
to the American people to do everything within our power to get to the 
truth, and this bill is an important step in that direction.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott).
  Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, like millions of people 
around the world, in 2020, I tested positive for COVID. I was 
fortunate. After several days in the hospital and 14 days on oxygen, I 
was able to recover. Many were not.

  Americans and the rest of the world deserve to know exactly where 
this virus started and any details surrounding the origins of the virus 
that launched the globe into chaos.
  If the CCP was not fully transparent during these times, people need 
to know that, as well. How long did they cover it up? How long did they 
know that this virus had been unleashed?
  If we are going to defeat the Communist Chinese Party, our government 
has to be transparent about how malicious they have become. The U.S. 
and other freedom-loving Nations are going to have to join together to 
make sure that we expose their intent to the world.
  I believe that we all have the right to know about the origins of 
COVID-19, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to 
require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify any of the 
information that we have on the origins of COVID and the CCP.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Stewart).

[[Page H1258]]

  

  Mr. STEWART. Madam Speaker, again, I thank the chairman and the 
minority leader for their support on this.
  In April 2020, just months into the pandemic, we had a briefing from 
various agencies to the Intel Committee about the origins of the 
pandemic. At that point, one of the agencies said to us that they knew 
this did not come from the Wuhan lab, and many of us were angry at 
that.
  We said to them, how could you possibly know that? The truth is, they 
didn't know that. The American people deserve to know the truth.
  Throughout the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci has consistently said 
anyone who would even propose this idea that it came from the lab or 
some other source that was manufactured in China was nothing but a 
conspiracy theorist. He belittled anyone who suggested that. They tried 
to silence anyone who suggested that. He advocated among his fellow 
scientists to do the same thing.
  Again, the American people deserve to know the truth, and I would 
defy anyone to give me any possible explanation why they would oppose 
this bill.
  This isn't like the movies--``You can't handle the truth.'' The 
American people, of course, can handle the truth. They deserve to know 
the truth.
  This final thought: Even now, the NIH is still listing the Wuhan 
Institute of Virology for eligibility to receive our Federal tax 
dollars.
  That makes no sense at all. It is absolute nonsense. We can't do that 
until, once again, we know the truth.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage support for this bill.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, the issue of the origins of COVID are so 
important that our Speaker has appointed a select subcommittee on the 
origins of COVID. Our next speaker, Dr. Wenstrup, is the chair of that 
subcommittee.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Wenstrup).
  Mr. WENSTRUP. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 619, the COVID-
19 Origin Act of 2023. The American people deserve answers on the 
origins of the COVID-19 virus, a novel coronavirus that sparked a 
pandemic and has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide to date.
  The impact of the pandemic on the American people has been 
catastrophic. We lost loved ones. Everyone has been touched.
  Our physicians, nurses, and healthcare workers were strained beyond 
capacity. We had to contend with lockdowns and school closures 
resulting in learning loss, as well as shutdowns and job loss, and 
depression and suicide that spiked after these measures.
  Many Americans still suffer physically, mentally, and economically 
from the impact of the virus and the measures taken during the 
pandemic.
  This bill will provide some sunlight for the American people, 
scientists, and physicians. I am honored to be one of seven physicians 
on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, as Dr. Bera 
referenced earlier.
  In order for us to be able to predict, prepare, protect, and prevent 
against a future pandemic, we need to know how and where this pandemic 
began.
  There are sound reasons to conclude that this particular virus may 
have resulted from a lab leak in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
  In the fall of 2019, well before Americans were aware of a problem in 
Wuhan, four unusual things happened at the Wuhan lab. Multiple 
researchers became sick with COVID-19-like symptoms, according to a 
State Department fact sheet. The Wuhan institute deleted the sequences 
of viruses that they had in their library. They changed control of the 
lab from civilian to military--highly unusual--and had a contractor 
redo the ventilation system in the laboratory. Furthermore, we know the 
Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting gain-of-function research on 
novel bat coronaviruses by creating chimeric viruses, combining two 
viruses together to test infectivity, and infecting mice with these 
viruses for study.
  The Wuhan lab applied to receive U.S. grant funding in order to 
insert what is called the furin cleavage site into novel coronaviruses, 
the same unique genetic aspect of COVID-19 that made it more infectious 
to humans.
  Last Congress, I was honored to lead the House Intelligence Committee 
Republicans in producing our second interim report on the origins of 
the COVID-19 pandemic. This Congress, I am fortunate to continue this 
work as the chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus 
Pandemic, where we will work on a bipartisan basis to follow the facts, 
conduct a fair investigation, and seek to deliver the truth to the 
American people.
  This bill we are voting on today to declassify information on the 
origins of the COVID-19 virus will provide much-needed transparency for 
Americans who have lost so much in this tragedy, but it is only a 
start.

  I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle in this endeavor.
  Madam Speaker, I urge support of this legislation.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Murphy).
  Mr. MURPHY. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 619, a bill 
to require the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to 
declassify all information related to potential leaks between the Wuhan 
Institute of Virology and the origins of COVID-19.
  We had red flags about COVID's origins from day one. If it looks like 
a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably a 
duck. Folks, this screams like a duck.
  In January 2020, Dr. Fauci received emails that promulgated that 
COVID-19 looked engineered and not from the wild. Yet, 3 weeks later, 
to save his own skin, he commissioned a scientific paper that 
``debunked'' the lab theory. He was academically and intellectually 
dishonest. Why? He did not want the American people to know the truth.
  The truth is that Dr. Fauci and his institution funneled hundreds of 
thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to promote dangerous gain-of-
function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology without proper 
guardrails.
  That is the key. The Wuhan lab was no more set up to deal with this 
deadly virus than my mother's kitchen.
  We had people--thousands, millions of people--lose their lives, their 
livelihoods, and their loved ones.
  If this contagion leaked from the lab, if that is the case, the world 
deserves to know. It is time to call out the duck in the room. Release 
the intelligence that we need to find out the truth.
  We have been lied to by China. We have even been lied to by our own 
government leaders. We need the truth. We ask our colleagues to please 
pass this bill.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, we were doing pretty well there, but behind the 
discussion of ducks were some pretty aggressive accusations of lying of 
American Government officials, dishonesty, attributions of motives, 
which is really what I am and I think what we are all trying to avoid 
here.

                              {time}  0945

  I will say it again. As profoundly frustrating as it is, we just 
don't know. We are entitled to have theories. We are citizens, after 
all. We shouldn't be so certain in those theories that we are willing 
to impugn the character and motives of other Americans, especially if 
those Americans are in positions of responsibility that need to be 
trusted in the next pandemic. So I will leave that there.
  I do want to characterize and substantiate my rather frustrating 
observation that we just don't know--with what the intelligence 
community believes is the latest assessment on the origins--again, I 
understand this is frustrating, but facts are important.
  Here it is, and this is a publicly available document: Four 
intelligence community elements and the National Intelligence Council 
assess, with low confidence, that the virus was likely caused by 
natural exposure to animals infected with it.
  One IC element assesses, with moderate confidence, that the first 
human infection most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated 
incident.
  Then analysts at three IC elements remain unable to coalesce around 
either explanation.

[[Page H1259]]

  That is a profoundly frustrating picture of organizations whose 
aggregate budget is tens of billions of dollars, who draw on all kinds 
of expertise, and yes, who are fallible, like any human institutions 
are. That is where they are and, sadly, that aggregates to, we just 
don't know.
  We are entitled to speculate. We are entitled to have theories. I 
would just urge caution about impugning people's motives, impugning 
their character based on those theories which are necessarily rooted in 
uncertainty.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. McCormick).
  Mr. McCORMICK. Madam Speaker, it is about time. It is good to see a 
bill actually shed some light on a disease process if we want to expose 
something, if we want to bring the truth. This should have been done a 
long time ago.
  When we first started seeing this disease in the emergency 
department, I was there on the front lines seeing people with fevers 
for no reason, testing negative for flu, testing negative for strep, 
pneumonia, and urinary tract infections. We couldn't figure out why 
they were sick. We were sending them home, not really understanding 
what was wrong with them.
  Then we had a hard time trying to figure out how to treat them. We 
went through a novel disease process, just like they did back in 1918 
when we had the original flu pandemic where 26 million people died in 
about a year.
  It should never come to a point where we become politically 
motivated. More to the point of why we have become so critical of 
people who should be trusted is when they have bias built into their 
argument to begin with, and that is what we are here to expose.
  When we have transparency, when we have declassified information so 
we can actually make a good judgment based on public opinion when it is 
exposed to the truth, I think it will expose that people were 
politically motivated; that they are embarrassed by their choices, and 
that they made choices to politicize this, rather than get to the 
bottom of this.
  We cannot stop a disease by misunderstanding where it came from. We 
cannot have an honest discussion and heal our Nation until we have 
accountability.
  I think where the mistrust comes from is the fact that it was 
politicized to begin with. So I think it is fair criticism when you 
have emails that expose the fact that they were trying to spin it a 
certain way, rather than having an honest, scientific discussion. That 
is fair criticism, and people should be held accountable if we are 
going to get to the bottom of this.
  As an ER doctor who served during the entire pandemic, since before I 
even knew what it was, watching people die in front of me, learning 
lessons--and those are honest lessons, where doctors made decisions and 
in good faith made mistakes, but it was in good faith--and we want to 
expose people who made decisions out of bad faith.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Pfluger).
  Mr. PFLUGER. Madam Speaker, for nearly 3 years now, the truth about 
COVID-19 and its origins have been hidden from the American people. We 
are at a real crossroads here. There should not be a single partisan 
fight over this issue.
  We are talking about the lives of so many people, not only in our 
country, but also throughout the rest of the world.
  Unfortunately, Big Government bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci abused 
their positions of power to disguise and distort the facts and to 
further a tyrannical approach to our country.
  Anyone who dared ask the question about the origins of COVID, or 
chose to make an independent healthcare decision for their own family, 
were silenced, censored, and ostracized as conspiracy theorists.
  Lo and behold, we stand here today with so many of these truths that 
were previously called conspiracy theories turning out to be true; the 
most glaring example being that Fauci knew as early as March of 2020 
that the coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
  He spent the next 3 years dodging, misleading, mischaracterizing the 
possibility, and even using American taxpayer dollars to pay for 
studies to discredit that very thing.
  This is not just unfortunate, this is truly astonishing. We wonder 
why the American people have a lack of trust in our government; it is 
because of these kinds of things.
  My constituents deserve to know the truth. Everyone that is here, 
their constituents deserve to know the truth.
  Republicans delivered a Commitment to America that we would deliver 
accountability; that we would have a government that is accountable, 
and it starts with things like this.
  We shouldn't fear government institutions. We should not fear the 
decisions that are made. But when you hide things, you mischaracterize 
things, and you mislead the public, we do.
  That is part of our Commitment to America, to uncover these things 
and make accountable and transparent; to put things on the table and 
let people know the facts. That accountability is going to have to be 
for the lives that were lost, the livelihoods that were destroyed, and 
the years together that families were robbed of.
  Pass this bill. Declassify this information, and let's get the truth.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I have no more speakers. I am prepared to 
close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I will reiterate my support for this bill and my gratitude to the 
chairman and the Republican majority for moving it quickly.
  This bill, fundamentally, is about something we haven't talked a lot 
about today, which is transparency. Transparency is a cornerstone of 
our democracy because without transparency, the American people can't 
make the decisions that they need to make responsibly as citizens of a 
democracy.
  I am sorry that today we heard a little bit of accusations that the 
truth was hidden from the American people; that taxpayer funds were 
misused; that Dr. Fauci had a motive to cover himself; that there was 
government censorship. There is not one iota of evidence for any of 
that.
  When we say those things without evidence, what we do is we reduce 
the American people's faith in their government and, eventually, when 
their faith in their government is reduced to nothing, we lose our 
democracy, or we see people breaking windows downstairs to get into the 
government's Chambers because it has been so discredited.
  But I am going to set that aside right now because this is an 
important, bipartisan effort to bring transparency around something 
that is going to be pretty frustrating for the American people because 
no matter what is declassified, it won't be dispositive about the 
origins of the coronavirus.
  This is a really important first step. I hope it will clear up some 
of the speculation, some of the rumors that are out there; and it is 
emblematic of something that the chairman and I care a lot about, which 
is, that unless there is a really good reason to keep something 
classified, the American people are responsible enough to have that 
information.
  I thank again Chairman Turner for his work on this issue, for his 
commitment to bipartisanship.
  Madam Speaker, I urge support from the whole House for S. 619, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I want to begin by thanking my ranking member. This bill comes to the 
House floor from the Senate with bipartisan support in the House, and 
it does so as a result of the leadership of the Ranking Member,  Jim 
Himes. I appreciate his commitment to both the declassifying of 
information and to the importance of this information concerning COVID-
19, and for the fact that we are working in a bipartisan manner to do 
so.
  This will be a very strong statement from this House today that we 
want to know the origins of COVID-19. The American public deserves to 
know the

[[Page H1260]]

answers, and that we are moving to declassify the information that we 
have available.
  Madam Speaker, I ask for support of S. 619, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 199, the previous question is ordered on 
the bill.
  The question is on the third reading of the bill.
  The bill was ordered to be read a third time, and was read the third 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on passage of the bill.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 419, 
nays 0, not voting 16, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 143]

                               YEAS--419

     Adams
     Aderholt
     Aguilar
     Alford
     Allen
     Allred
     Amodei
     Armstrong
     Arrington
     Auchincloss
     Babin
     Bacon
     Baird
     Balderson
     Balint
     Banks
     Barr
     Barragan
     Bean (FL)
     Beatty
     Bentz
     Bera
     Bergman
     Bice
     Biggs
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NC)
     Blumenauer
     Blunt Rochester
     Boebert
     Bonamici
     Bost
     Bowman
     Boyle (PA)
     Brecheen
     Brown
     Brownley
     Buchanan
     Buck
     Bucshon
     Budzinski
     Burchett
     Burgess
     Burlison
     Bush
     Calvert
     Cammack
     Caraveo
     Carbajal
     Cardenas
     Carey
     Carl
     Carson
     Carter (GA)
     Carter (LA)
     Carter (TX)
     Cartwright
     Casar
     Case
     Casten
     Castor (FL)
     Chavez-DeRemer
     Cherfilus-McCormick
     Chu
     Cicilline
     Ciscomani
     Clark (MA)
     Clarke (NY)
     Cline
     Cloud
     Clyburn
     Clyde
     Cohen
     Cole
     Collins
     Comer
     Connolly
     Correa
     Costa
     Courtney
     Craig
     Crane
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Crockett
     Crow
     Cuellar
     Curtis
     D'Esposito
     Davids (KS)
     Davidson
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (NC)
     De La Cruz
     Dean (PA)
     DeGette
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     Deluzio
     DeSaulnier
     DesJarlais
     Diaz-Balart
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Donalds
     Duarte
     Duncan
     Dunn (FL)
     Ellzey
     Emmer
     Escobar
     Eshoo
     Espaillat
     Estes
     Evans
     Ezell
     Fallon
     Feenstra
     Ferguson
     Finstad
     Fischbach
     Fitzgerald
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Fletcher
     Flood
     Foster
     Foushee
     Foxx
     Frankel, Lois
     Franklin, C. Scott
     Frost
     Fry
     Fulcher
     Gaetz
     Gallagher
     Garamendi
     Garbarino
     Garcia (IL)
     Garcia (TX)
     Garcia, Mike
     Garcia, Robert
     Gimenez
     Golden (ME)
     Goldman (NY)
     Gomez
     Gonzales, Tony
     Gonzalez, Vicente
     Good (VA)
     Gooden (TX)
     Gosar
     Gottheimer
     Granger
     Graves (LA)
     Graves (MO)
     Green (TN)
     Green, Al (TX)
     Greene (GA)
     Griffith
     Grijalva
     Grothman
     Guest
     Guthrie
     Hageman
     Harder (CA)
     Harris
     Harshbarger
     Hayes
     Hern
     Higgins (LA)
     Higgins (NY)
     Hill
     Himes
     Hinson
     Horsford
     Houchin
     Houlahan
     Hoyer
     Hoyle (OR)
     Hudson
     Huffman
     Huizenga
     Hunt
     Issa
     Ivey
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson (NC)
     Jackson (TX)
     Jackson Lee
     Jacobs
     James
     Jayapal
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (LA)
     Johnson (OH)
     Johnson (SD)
     Jordan
     Joyce (OH)
     Joyce (PA)
     Kamlager-Dove
     Kaptur
     Kean (NJ)
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kelly (MS)
     Kelly (PA)
     Khanna
     Kiggans (VA)
     Kildee
     Kiley
     Kilmer
     Kim (CA)
     Kim (NJ)
     Krishnamoorthi
     Kuster
     Kustoff
     LaHood
     LaLota
     LaMalfa
     Lamborn
     Landsman
     Langworthy
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Latta
     LaTurner
     Lawler
     Lee (CA)
     Lee (FL)
     Lee (NV)
     Lee (PA)
     Lesko
     Letlow
     Levin
     Lofgren
     Loudermilk
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Luna
     Luttrell
     Lynch
     Mace
     Magaziner
     Malliotakis
     Mann
     Manning
     Massie
     Mast
     Matsui
     McBath
     McCarthy
     McCaul
     McClain
     McClellan
     McClintock
     McCollum
     McCormick
     McGarvey
     McGovern
     Meeks
     Menendez
     Meuser
     Mfume
     Miller (IL)
     Miller (OH)
     Miller (WV)
     Mills
     Molinaro
     Moolenaar
     Mooney
     Moore (AL)
     Moore (UT)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran
     Morelle
     Moskowitz
     Moulton
     Mrvan
     Mullin
     Murphy
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Neguse
     Nehls
     Newhouse
     Nickel
     Norcross
     Norman
     Nunn (IA)
     Obernolte
     Ocasio-Cortez
     Ogles
     Omar
     Owens
     Pallone
     Palmer
     Panetta
     Pappas
     Pascrell
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peltola
     Pence
     Perez
     Perry
     Peters
     Pettersen
     Pfluger
     Pingree
     Pocan
     Porter
     Posey
     Pressley
     Quigley
     Ramirez
     Raskin
     Reschenthaler
     Rodgers (WA)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rose
     Rosendale
     Ross
     Rouzer
     Roy
     Ruiz
     Ruppersberger
     Rutherford
     Ryan
     Salazar
     Salinas
     Sanchez
     Santos
     Sarbanes
     Scalise
     Scanlon
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schneider
     Scholten
     Schweikert
     Scott (VA)
     Scott, Austin
     Scott, David
     Self
     Sessions
     Sewell
     Sherman
     Sherrill
     Simpson
     Slotkin
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (WA)
     Smucker
     Sorensen
     Soto
     Spanberger
     Stansbury
     Stanton
     Stauber
     Steel
     Stefanik
     Steil
     Stevens
     Stewart
     Strickland
     Strong
     Swalwell
     Sykes
     Takano
     Tenney
     Thanedar
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thompson (PA)
     Tiffany
     Titus
     Tlaib
     Tokuda
     Tonko
     Torres (CA)
     Torres (NY)
     Trahan
     Trone
     Turner
     Underwood
     Valadao
     Van Duyne
     Van Orden
     Vargas
     Vasquez
     Veasey
     Velazquez
     Wagner
     Walberg
     Waltz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Watson Coleman
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Wenstrup
     Westerman
     Wexton
     Wild
     Williams (GA)
     Williams (NY)
     Williams (TX)
     Wilson (FL)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Womack
     Yakym
     Zinke

                             NOT VOTING--16

     Beyer
     Castro (TX)
     Cleaver
     Edwards
     Gallego
     Leger Fernandez
     Lieu
     McHenry
     Meng
     Miller-Meeks
     Phillips
     Schrier
     Spartz
     Steube
     Timmons
     Van Drew

                              {time}  1025

  Messrs. McCARTHY, TAKANO, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, and Mrs. TORRES of 
California changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  So the bill was passed.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Stated for:
  Mr. EDWARDS. Madam Speaker, due to a district emergency, I was 
unavoidably detained from voting today. Had I been present, I would 
have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 143.
  Mr. McHENRY. Madam Speaker, due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, 
I was unable to vote on the passage of S. 619. Had I been present, I 
would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 143.
  Ms. SCHRIER. Madam Speaker, due to illness, I was unable to be 
present today. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on 
rollcall No. 143.
  Mr. TIMMONS. Madam Speaker, I was in my congressional district today 
during votes. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on 
rollcall No. 143.

                          ____________________