Ranking Member Ruiz Leads Select Subcommittee Democrats in Releasing Final Report Debunking Extreme Republican Probes
December 3, 2024
Press Release
Report: https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/SSCP%20Democratic%20Final%20Report.pdf
Washington, D.C. (December 3, 2024)—Today, Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D., Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, released Select Subcommittee Democrats’ final report ahead of a December 4 markup to consider and adopt the Select Subcommittee’s final report.
Today’s report provides Select Subcommittee Democrats’ culminating findings from two dozen hearings, over one hundred hours of closed-door testimony, and more than one million pages of documents provided to the Select Subcommittee during the 118th Congress.
Over the past two years, Select Subcommittee Democrats found:
Select Subcommittee Republicans’ “COVID origins” probe failed to find the virus’s origins or advance our understanding of how the novel coronavirus came to be.
Dr. Fauci did not organize a lab leak suppression campaign. He did not orchestrate the Proximal Origin paper, he did not bribe that paper’s authors with federal funding, and he did not direct National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) staff to manipulate public media coverage of the issue.
EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) did not create SARS-CoV-2 and cause the COVID-19 pandemic. The viruses studied under the grant and the Wuhan Institute of Virology subaward are too genetically distant from SARS-CoV-2 to have caused the pandemic.
Similarly, Dr. Fauci did not create SARS-CoV-2. There is no evidence that the viruses studied under NIAID grants caused the COVID-19 pandemic, or that Dr. Fauci was even aware of the EHA grant until after the outbreak.
Dr. Fauci did not lie to Congress regarding gain-of-function research at WIV. Dr. Fauci’s prior Senate testimony explicitly referred to the regulatory definition of the term “gain-of-function,” rather than to an informal usage of the term, and his testimony was accurate in that respect.
Dr. Daszak, President of EHA, and EHA may have misled the federal government about their work and participated in other questionable conduct. As a grantee, EHA’s questionable conduct spanned administrative issues, such as annual reporting requirements, and substantive scientific issues, such as representations of its work in communications with NIAID staff. Dr. Daszak also engaged in conduct outside the scope of EHA’s grant that raises reasonable questions regarding his professional integrity.
Dr. David Morens, a NIAID employee, exhibited professional conduct that was unbecoming of a public servant when he seemingly attempted to evade Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act requirements.
Select Subcommittee Republicans’ investigation into New York State’s nursing home policy underscored damage caused by the Trump Administration’s failed pandemic response and emphasized the necessity of transparency from elected officials during public health crises.
The Trump Administration’s disastrous pandemic response led to the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes across the country.
The Cuomo Administration interfered with the data reporting of its Department of Health.
The Trump Administration deceived the American public about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Select Subcommittee Republicans’ probe into the Biden-Harris Administration’s safe and swift reopening of schools failed to substantiate baseless allegations of undue influence over Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance.
CDC developed guidance to reopen schools quickly while keeping students and staff safe from COVID-19.
CDC consulted a wide range of stakeholders before the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was even aware the guidance was forthcoming.
Select Subcommittee Republicans assailed essential public health measures that protected Americans from COVID-19, including vaccines and social distancing.
At the expense of coming together around forward-looking work to prevent and prepare for future pandemics, Select Subcommittee Republicans spent the 118th Congress advancing a political agenda that has contributed little to the essential work of getting ahead of future public health crises and saving future lives.
Click here to read the full report:
https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/SSCP%20Democratic%20Final%20Report.pdf
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