OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Rep. Stewart Passes Amendments to Ban U.S. Government Funding of Gain-of-Function Research in Adversarial Nations

Statement

Date: July 15, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Science Health and Health Care Government Budget and Spending

Today, the House Committee on Appropriations accepted two amendments from Congressman Chris Stewart (R-UT). These amendments ban U.S. government funding of gain-of-function research in adversarial nations, including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, and stop further U.S. government funding from flowing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Rep. Stewart released the following statement.

"U.S. taxpayer dollars should never fund gain-of-function research in adversarial nations. Unfortunately, there is circumstantial evidence that American funding was funneled to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. While the world continues to feel the devastating human and economic impacts from COVID-19, we cannot turn a blind eye to this obvious national security threat.

"My amendments ensure that we never arm our foreign adversaries with potentially devastating pandemic pathogens. This isn't about assigning blame. It's about preventing another catastrophe, and these amendments are an important step in the right direction."


Source
arrow_upward