[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 128 (Wednesday, August 5, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 738

  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today to ask the Senate body to 
join me in the stopping of the funding of viral gain-of-function 
research.
  Viral gain-of-function research is what led, of course, to the COVID 
virus being developed and, of course, the COVID epidemic. I think it is 
important to pause and stop and think why this is still important--what 
is it now--5 or 6 years later.
  We all know we lost 1 million Americans to this COVID virus. Twenty 
million Americans still suffer from long COVID. Many, many Americans 
died alone--maybe at a nursing home, maybe in their own home. But they 
weren't allowed to have their own children, their spouses come visit 
them in those last moments of their life.
  We had tens of millions of students miss their senior year of high 
school, their senior year of college. Maybe it was the State track 
meet. Maybe it was the State softball team they had been working on 
their whole life.
  We have kids that still have learning disabilities or are lagging in 
their learning--specifically reading--not to mention their social 
interactions and their social development. This COVID virus left a huge 
physical, economic, and emotional scar on America.
  And that is why I am asking that we stop this viral gain-of-function 
research. I am so proud that the President, recently, has agreed to 
stop the funding. I have been calling for the stopping of this since 
2021 as well.
  And I think it is important to realize how Anthony Fauci evaded the 
intentions of Congress and the rules from his own White House. Even 
President Obama asked him to stop doing viral gain-of-function 
research, but, of course, Anthony Fauci had more attorneys than Carter 
has pills, and they always found some loophole. Then, when they 
couldn't do it here, he offshored the funding of this.
  Make no mistake about it, the United States was funding viral gain-
of-function research for decades. This was Anthony Fauci's baby. He 
thought that this was his ticket to a Nobel Prize.
  You know, whether you are a physician, like myself, or a mom or dad 
or a businessperson, a military officer, you always had to sit there 
and weigh the benefits and the risks of something like this.
  I mean, what the benefits are, I am not sure of. You know, maybe they 
said it was so that if some unknown organism appeared, that we would be 
able to develop a vaccine. But, of course, the downside was always the 
fear of risk of a virus they made in a laboratory, of it escaping.
  And, of course, why wouldn't there be? Multiple times in history, 
viruses, microorganisms have escaped from laboratories. It is 
practically impossible to control it. In 1978, a smallpox virus escaped 
from a lab in the United Kingdom. In 2007, foot-and-mouth virus 
accidently released from a United Kingdom lab. In 2014, the CDC had an 
anthrax issue. Again, in 2014, NIH-FDA, there were unsecured smallpox 
vials seen.
  These mice they were doing experiments on and infecting them with 
these monster viruses, from time to time, escaped.
  So it seems like we were set up for failure. And, again, despite 
scientist after scientist, President after President, warning Anthony 
Fauci to stop doing this research, he persisted and he persisted and he 
persisted, until finally COVID-19 was accidentally released from a lab 
in Wuhan, China. And the rest is history.
  And that is why I think it is so important that we stop the funding 
for this once and for all. Let's codify what the President has done 
here and make sure--at least until someone can come to this Congress 
and say: Look, we have a foolproof system for keeping this in control.
  But when you are making monster viruses, the worst-case scenario is 
probably some type of terrorism; that it would be so easy, once these 
are made, to be replicated and turned into a terrorist weapon--much 
more of a serious consequential threat to America than nuclear warheads 
are.
  Think about this: This virus alone has exponentially been more lethal 
than all the years of nuclear weapons.
  This bill does one simple thing: It stops Federal tax dollars from 
funding the kind of research that could turn a virus into a weapon--no 
more offshoring risks to avoid oversight, no more asking permission 
from the very Agencies that created the problem.
  Mr. President, that is why today, as if in legislative session and 
notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further 
consideration of S. 738 and the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time 
and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and 
laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  Mr. KIM. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.