[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4080 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4080
To impose additional duties on imports of goods from the People's
Republic of China until China provides full compensation and
reimbursement relating to the COVID-19 pandemic to the United States,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 23, 2021
Mr. Brooks (for himself, Mr. DesJarlais, and Mr. Cawthorn) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and
Means, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Foreign
Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose additional duties on imports of goods from the People's
Republic of China until China provides full compensation and
reimbursement relating to the COVID-19 pandemic to the United States,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``China COVID-19 Restitution Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) In April 2012, six miners assigned to clear bat guano
from the Mojiang coal mine in Mojiang, Yunnan, China fell ill
and 3 of them died. A team of scientists from the Wuhan
Institute of Virology were called in to take samples of bats
and found multiple new coronaviruses.
(2) Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology did not
announce the existence of the new coronaviruses nor their
connections to the coal mine and the miners that became ill
until 2021.
(3) Dr. Shi Zhengli, lead scientist at Wuhan Institute of
Virology, described experiments to World Health Organization
(WHO) scientists that could be described as gain of function
research. These experiments included manipulating certain spike
proteins from coronaviruses found in bats and making them
capable of infecting human cells.
(4) The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been conducting
experiments on a coronavirus identified as RaTG13, which was
among the viruses found in the Mojiang mineshaft.
(5) The Wuhan Institute of Virology has identified RaTG13
to be the most similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
COVID-19 with a 96.2 percent similarity.
(6) In November 2019 three scientists at the Wuhan
Institute of Virology became ill ``with symptoms consistent
with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness''. All 3
scientists sought treatment at a hospital.
(7) A lab leak would not be unprecedented in China. In
2004, a SARS outbreak stemming from 2 scientists at the Chinese
Institute of Virology in Beijing infected 9 people and killed
one.
(8) China refused to allow scientists to investigate the
potential origins of COVID-19 until January 2021, more than a
year after COVID-19 began its spread.
(9) China only agreed to a WHO investigation if it had veto
power over the scientists chosen for the trip and privilege to
review and edit the final report before release. Thirty to
sixty members of the Chinese participants were not scientists.
(10) China would not allow the international team access to
blood bank samples, raw data of any kind, lab logs, lab
biosafety requirements, or to interview staff members.
(11) The WHO team was required to remain separate from
Chinese scientists unless in approved settings and were allowed
only 3 hours inside the Wuhan lab under strict conditions.
(12) Chinese scientists examined the medical records of
76,000 people in a province of nearly 60 million people. Of
that 76,000, only 92 were chosen to be tested for COVID-19
antibodies long after they could have faded and without any
explanation to the WHO team of the criterion in which they were
chosen.
(13) The COVID-19 pandemic, whether naturally occurring or
not, was made worse due to the lies and misinformation
promulgated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
(14) On January 3, 2020, China's National Health Commission
ordered medical institutions and labs not to publish any
information about the new virus without specific government
approval. The notice also ordered labs to destroy their samples
or send them to other designated institutions.
(15) Even after the CCP knowingly delayed notifying the
world of the COVID-19 virus and did not share the genome
sequence until January 11, 2020, the WHO repeatedly defended
them.
(16) For weeks after various physicians in Wuhan warned of
the possibility of human-to-human transmission, China refused
to admit any such cases existed, as reported by the BBC.
(17) Dr. Li Wenliang and eight other doctors warned of the
dangers of the new virus in December 2019.
(18) In January 2020, the doctors were summoned by the
Public Security Bureau and silenced.
(19) On January 14, 2020, the WHO tweeted ``preliminary
investigations conducted by China have found no clear evidence
of human-to-human transmission''.
(20) On January 30, 2020, the WHO finally declares the
outbreak to be a global health emergency.
(21) On February 24, 2020, following a 9-day field
excursion in China, a joint team of CCP and WHO scientists held
a news conference in which the WHO stated China's actions
slowed the spread of the epidemic and prevented or delayed
thousands of cases.
(22) On February 28, 2020, the joint team praised China for
the ``remarkable speed'' of their response in isolating the
virus.
(23) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-
general, visited China and praised the country's leadership for
``setting a new standard for outbreak response''. Another month
and a half went by before the WHO called COVID-19 a pandemic,
at which point the virus had killed more than 4,000 people and
had infected 118,000 people across nearly every continent.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the
People's Republic of China and the CCP are fully responsible and liable
for all deaths, injuries, and financial losses suffered in the United
States by reason of the spread of COVID-19.
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF ADDITIONAL DUTIES ON IMPORTS OF GOODS AND
COMPONENTS FROM THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (c), the President shall--
(1) impose a duty on imports of any good from the People's
Republic of China, and any component manufactured in the
People's Republic of China that is incorporated in any good
imported from any other country, in an amount equal to 10
percent ad valorem of the good or component for the period
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending
on December 31, 2021; and
(2) increase the duty imposed under subsection (a) on such
good or component by an additional amount equal to 10 percent
ad valorem of the good or component for each calendar year
beginning after calendar year 2021.
(b) Duties To Be Considered Additional Duties.--The duty required
by subsection (a) with respect to a good or component is in addition to
any other duty imposed by law with respect to the good or component.
(c) Sunset.--The requirement to impose a duty with respect to a
good or component under subsection (a) shall cease to be effective
beginning on the date on which the President submits to Congress a
certification that the total amount deposited in the COVID-19
Restitution Trust Fund established under section 4 equals or exceeds
the total amount necessary to provide full compensation and
reimbursement relating to COVID-19 for purposes of the program
established under section 5.
SEC. 4. TRUST FUND.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish an
account, to be known as the ``COVID-19 Restitution Trust Fund'' (in
this section referred to as the ``Trust Fund'').
(b) Deposit of Amounts.--The Trust Fund shall consist of the
following:
(1) Amounts equal to the amounts of duties imposed on
imports of any good from the People's Republic of China, and
any component manufactured in the People's Republic of China
that is incorporated in any good imported from any other
country, under section 3.
(2) Amounts provided by the People's Republic of China to
provide full compensation and reimbursement relating to COVID-
19, if any.
(c) Appropriation.--The amount of funds deposited in the Trust Fund
is appropriated to the President and may be expended to provide full
compensation and reimbursement relating to COVID-19 in accordance with
the compensation program established under section 5. Such funds may
not be used for any other purpose.
SEC. 5. COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Attorney General, acting through a Special
Master appointed by the Attorney General, shall--
(1) establish and administer a program to provide
compensation and reimbursement with respect to--
(A) economic losses incurred in the United States
resulting from COVID-19;
(B) financial losses of each business in the United
States resulting from COVID-19;
(C) funds and other forms of assistance made
available by the Federal government to address COVID-
19; and
(D) financial losses of each State and local
government resulting from COVID-19;
(2) promulgate all procedural and substantive rules for the
administration of the program; and
(3) employ and supervise hearing officers and other
administrative personnel to perform the duties of the Special
Master under the program.
(b) Economic Loss Defined.--In this section, the term ``economic
loss'' means any pecuniary loss resulting from harm, including the loss
of earnings or other benefits related to employment, medical expense
loss, replacement services loss, loss due to death, burial costs, and
loss of business or employment opportunities.
SEC. 6. REPORT.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report--
(1) identifying countries the Secretary determines have
been adversely impacted by the Chinese Communist Party,
specifically related to the coverup, misstatements, and
obfuscation on the origin of COVID-19; and
(2) describing measures the Secretary plans to take to
encourage other countries to adopt similar tariffs or other
retaliatory measures to collect damages from the People's
Republic of China.
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