Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced accompanying legislation in both chambers on Thursday that would eliminate the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the agency Anthony Fauci formally directed from 1984 to 2022.
The legislation, NIH Reform Act, would ultimately eliminate the NIAID and turn it into three separate national research institutes, each with a different director that the Senate must confirm, limited to a maximum of two five-year terms.
The three new separate national research institutes would be the National Institute of Allergic Diseases, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of Immunologic Diseases.
The Daily Caller, who first obtained the legislation’s text, noted that the Senate bill already has Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) as cosponsors.
Paul told the Daily Caller before introducing the bill:
We’ve learned a lot over the past few years, but one lesson in particular is that no one person should be deemed ‘dictator-in-chief.’ No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans. To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I’ve introduced this bill to eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s previous position as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and divide the role into three separate new institutes. This will create accountability and oversight into a taxpayer funded position that has largely abused its power and has been responsible for many failures and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul referred to Fauci, who led NIAID for nearly 40 years. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when Fauci was pushed into the spotlight, the senator has been a prominent critic of him. Last December, he continued his criticism of Fauci, stating that he would historically be remembered for his lapse in judgment.
“[L]ikely there is no public figure or public health figure that has made a greater error in judgment than Dr. Fauci,” he said. “The error in judgment was to fund gain of function research in a totalitarian country. Fund research that allowed them to create super viruses that, in all likelihood, accidentally leaked into the public and caused seven million people to die.”
Roy, who introduced an identical House version of the bill and has been a critic of Fauci, also told the Daily Caller:
From the earliest days of the pandemic, unaccountable public health bureaucracies proved themselves far more adept at ruining lives than saving them. Never again should a single individual, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, wield unchecked power and influence over the lives of the American people. Breaking up Dr. Fauci’s taxpayer funded bully pulpit into three separate agencies — and requiring Senate confirmation for all their future directors — is one of many actions necessary to allow the American people to hold public health agencies accountable.
In the early days of the pandemic, Roy floated criminal charges against Fauci, saying he is the “best example you could have of what happens when you fund federal bureaucrats to go in and make decisions on our behalf, and step in with the power that they have.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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