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“COVID-19 ORIGIN ACT OF 2021” mentioning Mike Braun was published in the Senate section on pages S3488-S3489 on May 26.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
COVID-19 ORIGIN ACT OF 2021
Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, we are here tonight for a very simple reason with a very simple proposition--that the American people deserve to know about the origins of COVID-19. They deserve to know how this terrible pandemic that has ravaged the globe and our country, how it got started and what China's role was in starting it.
Now, we have seen a parade of government officials speculate about the origins in one place or another. And there is increasing speculation and, indeed, increasing numbers of statements from government officials saying that perhaps this virus originated in a Chinese lab, in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Well, I think it is time that the American people got to decide for themselves. It is time that they actually got to see the evidence that the U.S. Government has collected on this issue, and that is exactly what the measure that we are introducing here tonight would do. It would make available to the American people the evidence that the U.S. Government has about the origins of this terrible virus and this terrible pandemic.
I am proud to be joined in this effort by Senator Braun, and I know that he would like to make a few remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
Mr. BRAUN. Thank you, Senator Hawley.
This was an easy one. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal gave us some news. We have had a cascade of others weighing in now, where this is maybe an epiphany that some have had that we need to look further into the roots.
Look at what our country has gone through. It has been a year and a quarter, and it has ravaged not only the United States but the world. And why, for the sake of simple transparency, wouldn't we want to get to the root cause of it?
The World Health Organization made an attempt at it. It was not effective. It looked to me like it was apologizing for what might have occurred in China.
President Biden finally has said that we need to put more light and attention on this. So thank goodness, for whatever the reason, we are going to get to the bottom of it. When it has caused this much grief across our country and across the world, it needs to be done.
The intelligence communities in our own country are storing information that needs to be revealed to the American public. It needs to be revealed to anyone who can look at it to make sense out of what has happened.
So our bill is very simple.
Since I have been in the Senate, whether it is weighing in on issues of healthcare, national security, COVID-19--who disagrees with transparency, the sunshine that reveals everything?
I was in a committee hearing. And when you get the two individuals whom we have relied on mostly in this whole journey, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins, first acknowledging that transparency is paramount, and that, yes, we should declassify this information, and when we have listened to them help navigate us through this tricky journey, and they tell us earlier today, ``Give us the information,'' I think that is why here, this evening, this will go through with unanimous consent, because it makes sense.
And wherever it leads us, we should be happy that we finally might get to the bottom of this--whatever it reveals. We don't know where it will take us. It is relying on what is most important--on the information we housed. Let's make sure the American public can see it and that any group that wants to analyze what happened can, including the rest of the world.
So it was easy for me to get onboard, to get behind something so simple that says nothing more than if we got the information, let's show it. Let's not hide behind it. And when you get individuals like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Collins, the director now of the WHO, something is afoot, and we need to find out.
I am glad that we are here this evening punctuating this so that we get it done.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, the American people can be trusted with the truth. More than that, the American people deserve the truth.
They deserve to know the true origins of this virus. They deserve to be able to evaluate the evidence for themselves. They deserve it. Their government owes it to them, and it is time to act.
And the American people deserve something else. They deserve to have this government hold accountable that nation which started this virus, whose lies about this virus turned it into a global pandemic, whose lies about this virus prevented our country and many others from being able to address it effectively in time. Of course, I am talking about China. The American people deserve to have all of the evidence and deserve to have this government's full effort and the effort of our allies and partners in holding accountable China for what it has done, not just to this country but to the world, and to make sure that something like this never happens again.
So, Mr. President, I ask now unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1867, which is at desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1867) to require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. HAWLEY. I ask unanimous consent 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 objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 1867) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, was read the third time, and passed, as follows
S. 1867
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 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Department of State released a fact sheet on January 15, 2021, about the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) which stated the following:
(A) ``The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.''.
(B) ``WIV researchers conducted experiments involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus identified by the WIV in January 2020 as its closest sample to SARS-CoV-2.''.
(C) ``Despite the WIV presenting itself as a civilian institution, the United States has determined that the WIV has collaborated on publications and secret projects with China's military.''.
(2) Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, stated in March 2021 that, ``the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory'' and noted that, ``[i]t is not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect the laboratory worker.''.
(3) Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged in March 2021 that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) may have originated in a laboratory and said this hypothesis ``requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts.''.
SEC. 3. 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. 4. 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.
Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, I thank the Senate for this action tonight.
This is, as Senator Braun said, an important first step. It is only a first step, but the truth is always the right step, and that is the action that we have taken tonight.
I yield the floor.
Order of Business
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up the following amendments: Lee, No. 1929; Coons, No. 1588; Braun, No. 1771; Marshall, No. 1973, as modified; and Sasse, No. 2023; further, that at 9:15 p.m. today, the Senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed with no amendments in order to these amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendment, with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption and 2 minutes of debate, equally divided, prior to each vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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