It is “unconscionable” that EcoHealth Alliance “repeatedly funneled American taxpayer dollars” to the “CCP-controlled” Wuhan virology lab that conducts “potentially deadly research,” according to Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who introduced a bill to defund the NGO accused of collaborating with the Chinese institute to study bat coronaviruses, as he warned against “risky experiments in foreign labs run by our adversaries.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), along with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), introduced the Defund EcoHealth Alliance Act to completely ban any federal funding of EcoHealth Alliance, the U.S. nonprofit that has repeatedly funded dangerous and potentially deadly research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China’s central Hubei province.
The bill extends to “any subsidiaries and related organizations that are directly controlled by EcoHealth Alliance, Inc., including subgrant or subcontract organizations or individuals,” and would require the U.S. Comptroller General to review federal funds both directly or indirectly awarded to the group over the past decade that were provided to the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
EcoHealth, a New York City non-profit with extensive ties to the Chinese research institute, has been accused of funneling millions in grant funding from the U.S. to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) laboratory which has long been suspected of being the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Introduction of the bill follows the release of a report on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that detailed “vast reporting violations” and “improper procedures” conducted by EcoHealth and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The report also highlighted how the NIH “missed opportunities to more effectively monitor research,” recommending consideration of whether it is appropriate to refer WIV to HHS for debarment.
A press release from Wednesday notes that EcoHealth “has a troubling record of failing to report findings from federally funded research,” having “refused to cooperate with congressional oversight of federal funding awarded to the organization, and its collaborations with the WIV — the likely origin site of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, the congressman deemed it “unconscionable” that EcoHealth Alliance “repeatedly funneled American taxpayer dollars” to the controversial institution.
According to Reschenthaler, the “CCP-controlled” lab “conducts dangerous and potentially deadly research.”
He also called on his congressional colleagues to support his move.
“As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which is tasked with ensuring our nation’s fiscal responsibility, I urge my colleagues to support this bill banning funding from this negligent organization,” he stated.
“Congress must ensure Americans are never footing the bill for risky experiments in foreign labs run by our adversaries,” he concluded.
EcoHealth Alliance came under scrutiny in 2021 after it was discovered that in the midst of the COVID pandemic, the non-profit had used US grant money to finance bat coronavirus research at the WIV.
The grant was awarded by the NIH’s National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), then led by infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has since denied the research involved was “gain of function” — altering a virus to increase its lethality.
This week, a report showed the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded a three-year $3 million grant to EcoHealth last month for the purpose of “reducing the threat of viral spillover from wildlife in the Philippines,” according to USASpending.gov.
House Republicans are now making the origins of COVID-19 and the potential role of EcoHealth and the WIV a top investigative priority.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.