On Thursday, House GOP Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) joined the GOP Doctors Caucus for a press conference. The lawmakers discussed the urgency of getting to the bottom of the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Scalise and Stefanik demanded that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hold hearings to investigate these origins. The select committee on the Wuhan coronavirus is holding a hearing next Tuesday, though Scalise stressed the need for committees of jurisdiction to hold hearings as well. Stefanik lamented, however, that Pelosi has "stonewalled" such efforts.
Rep. John Joyce (R-PA), who was the only physician on the China task force, noted that such a task force had been calling for these investigations over a year ago.
The congressman noted that "the mainstream media, Democrats, and others dismissed" GOP concerns, adding that "every day, more evidence suggests that this virus was engineered at the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), a co-chair of the caucus expressed concern that the United States may have been a victim of both "genetic engineering and political engineering."
Another co-chair of the caucus, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), warned about the dangers of taking China's word about the virus' origins and the compliance and complacency of the World Health Organization (WHO).
House Republican Leadership and GOP Doctors Caucus press conference on origins of COVID-19 https://t.co/ButC46BJPx
— GOP Doctors Caucus (@GOPDoctors) June 24, 2021
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Asked about the lawmakers' confidence in the Biden administration's handling of finding the virus's origins, Wenstrup said that he was "encouraged that they're at least talking about it," pointing out that the theory was "swept under the rug" last year and previously Facebook had censored discussion on such a theory. He still stressed the need for a commission, and for the Biden administration to be involved in that.
Stefanik also weighed in, answering "it's important for the American people to know that the Department of State under the Trump administration was conducting an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus. It was the Biden administration which put a stop to that investigation."
The congresswoman noted "that's unacceptable and Joe Biden should be held accountable for that," and also shared "that's why House Republicans are continuing to pressure our colleagues who have stonewalled the investigation in the House, because this should not be a partisan issue." She went on to emphasize "while Joe Biden has finally been pressured, make no mistake, they shut down the investigation."
Scalise added that "there is one real concern we have with the action President Biden took," which was the decision to fund the WHO once more, after then President Donald Trump defunded it once "it became clear that the WHO simply started colluding with China, regurgitating their false talking points."
Not only did Biden fund the agency once again, Scalise pointed out, he did so "without demanding any reforms... and started sending taxpayer dollars from Americans to WHO."
In order "to clean up and restore the credibility of the World Health Organization," Scalise said that Dr. Tedros, the agency's director-general, "has to go."
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