Republicans on House Coronavirus Committee Ask Democrats to Investigate China

Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis are asking Democrats to hold China accountable for causing the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the World Health Organization for its role in facilitating China’s actions.

In a May 19, 2020, letter to committee chairman Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) obtained by Breitbart News, a handful of Republican members on the committee, led by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), asked Democrats to join their efforts to investigate China.

“We urge you to immediately join our investigation and hold hearings to determine why the Chinese government denied and downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, and how China is now attempting to exploit the pandemic it caused,” they wrote.

“As President Trump stated in his May 18, 2020, letter to the Director-General of the WHO, ‘We do not have time to waste.’ Congress must work to understand the origins of COVID-19 and reform the WHO,” they added.

The letter was signed by Scalise, along with Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), and Mark E. Green (R-TN).

They wrote:

Specifically, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis should investigate: (1) China’s obfuscation of the origin of COVID-19; (2) China’s manipulation of the WHO to cover up the severity of the outbreak; and (3) recent reports that the Chinese government is stealing American medical research and disrupting the medical supply chain, among other tactics intended to exploit the pandemic. Focusing the Subcommittee’s resources on these imperative questions will assist the U.S. government effort to limit ongoing and future harm from Chinese malfeasance.

…

The Chinese government’s efforts to undermine the American effort to combat COVID-19 and sabotage the global economic recovery are ongoing. We urge the Subcommittee to return to the Capitol and help us hold the Chinese government accountable for its cynical strategy to exploit a pandemic of its own making.

A copy of the letter can be read below:

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