[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5379 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5379
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish all
information in the possession of the Department of Health and Human
Services relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 8, 2023
Mr. Roy (for himself, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Brecheen, Mr. Biggs, and Mr. Moore
of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish all
information in the possession of the Department of Health and Human
Services relating to the origin of COVID-19, 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 ``HHS COVID-19 Origin Transparency Act
of 2023''.
SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF HHS INFORMATION RELATED TO THE ORIGIN OF COVID-
19.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall--
(1) except as provided in subsection (d), publish all
information described in subsection (b); and
(2) submit a report to the Congress containing a summary of
each item of information that is described in subsection (b)
but withheld from such publication pursuant to subsection (d).
(b) Information Described.--The information described in this
subsection is any and all information in the possession of the
Department of Health and Human Services (including any agency, office,
operating or staffing division, and any other component of the
Department, including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration,
the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the Health
Resources and Service Administration, the Office of National Security,
the Office of Inspector General, and any person under contract to the
Department) relating to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
outbreak, coronavirus research including vaccine development, or the
concealment of information about the COVID-19 outbreak, including any
such information that consists of--
(1) unpublished and unreleased records including--
(A) the report titled ``One Health Zoonotic Disease
Prioritization workshop in China'' (prepared by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2019) and
related records;
(B) all records pending authorization or other
approval from any organization of the People's Republic
of China;
(C) coronavirus research genetic sequence records
in the Sequence Read Archive of the National Institutes
of Health and all requests from higher educational
institutions, research institutions, or other persons
or entities in China to withdraw or delay sequence data
publication;
(D) all research applications submitted to an
agency of the Public Health Service seeking funding to
undertake coronavirus-related research that were not
funded by the relevant agency;
(E) all coronavirus records;
(F) all coronavirus research records, including--
(i) grant applications, grant research
project annual progress reports, and final
reports; and
(ii) records of compensation for each
researcher--
(I) who was an employee or
contractor of the Government of the
People's Republic of China or any
entity (including any public
university) controlled by such
Government; and
(II) whose compensation was funded
in part, directly or indirectly, by the
Department of Health and Human
Services; and
(G) all records related to the suspension, denial,
termination, or other risk mitigation actions related
to coronavirus research projects;
(H) all records of the Office of Inspector General
of the Department of Health and Human Services that
include--
(i) hotline records, including all
referrals from the operating divisions of the
Department of Health and Human Services,
including the National Institutes of Health;
(ii) communications related to potential
misconduct by employees of the Department of
Health and Human Services, including Anthony
Fauci and Francis Collins;
(iii) communications related to potential
monetary fraud or research misconduct involving
grants of the National Institutes of Health,
including any such grants awarded to EcoHealth
Alliance; and
(iv) all EcoHealth Alliance audit records;
(I) all records involving EcoHealth Alliance
research projects and personnel including--
(i) all names, salaries, levels of effort,
and Department of State clearances;
(ii) all peer review records; and
(iii) all financial records;
(J) all outbreak-related communication records
including observations, reports, memoranda, and
requests, except individually identifiable patient
health information, from--
(i) all personnel of the Department of
Health and Human Services stationed in China;
(ii) all foreign nationals from China on
visas sponsored directly or indirectly by the
Department of Health and Human Services,
including--
(I) personnel located in the United
States; and
(II) personnel teleworking from
China;
(K) all memoranda of understanding, data sharing
agreements, and intellectual property transfer
commitments between the Department of Health and Human
Services and academic or public health institutions in
the People's Republic of China, including--
(i) the Memorandum of Understanding for the
Collaborative Program on Emerging and Re-
emerging Infectious Diseases;
(ii) all material transfer agreements and
intellectual property transfer records related
to coronavirus research and vaccine
development; and
(iii) all agreements between Department of
Health and Human Services-sponsored principal
investigators and any organization involving
the transfer of coronavirus research data to
academic or public health institutions in the
People's Republic of China; and
(L) analysis of the first 6,000 patients
hospitalized in Wuhan, China, of whom 1,100 had severe
COVID-19 disease;
(2) a record pertaining to sick researchers in Wuhan,
China, during the fall of 2019, including for any such
researcher--
(A) the researcher's name, laboratory name,
laboratory role, symptoms, and date of symptom onset;
(B) whether the researcher was involved with or
exposed to coronavirus research in Wuhan research
laboratories;
(C) whether the researcher visited a hospital or
medical clinic while they were ill; and
(D) a description of any other actions taken by the
researcher that may suggest they were experiencing a
serious illness at the time;
(3) a record pertaining to coronavirus research conducted
in cooperation with any Chinese national public research
university affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology of China, including Beihang
University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Harbin Engineering
University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nanjing University
of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Science
and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, PLA
Naval University of Engineering, PLA National Defence
University, PLA Information Engineering University, and the PLA
Academy of Military Science; and
(4) a record pertaining to concerns of bioweapon programs
in China, including all records related to the evaluation and
analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a potential bioweapon,
including records from the Integrated Research Facility at Fort
Detrick.
(c) Identification of Information Supplied to Intelligence
Community.--In publishing information pursuant to subsection (a), the
Secretary shall identify any such information that was supplied by the
Department of Health and Human Services to any agency of the
intelligence community in support of the intelligence community's
COVID-19 origins assessments from the onset of the outbreak of COVID-19
through the date of enactment of this Act.
(d) Withholding of Certain Information.--Except as inconsistent
with subsection (b), the Secretary may, in accordance with other
applicable law, withhold or redact from publication under subsection
(a)(1) any information that--
(1) is classified and for which the Department of Health
and Human Services was not the original classification
authority;
(2) is individually identifiable information; or
(3) is national security, confidential commercial, or
proprietary information.
(e) Declassification.--The Secretary shall--
(1) to the extent necessary to publish pursuant to
subsection (a)(1) all information described in subsection (b),
declassify any such information for which the Department of
Health and Human Services was the original classification
authority; or
(2) certify in the publication that no such classified
information exists.
(f) Failure To Publish.--Beginning on the day that is 91 calendar
days after the date of enactment of this Act--
(1) of the unobligated amounts appropriated or otherwise
made available to the immediate Office of the Secretary of
Health and Human Services--
(A) there is rescinded an amount equal to
$1,000,000 for each calendar day on which the Secretary
of Health and Human Services fails--
(i) to make the publication required by
subsection (a)(1); or
(ii) to submit the report required by
subsection (a)(2); and
(B) the amount so rescinded shall be deposited into
the general fund of the Treasury for the sole purpose
of reducing the national debt; and
(2) the Secretary may not reprogram or use any other funds
to replace any funds that are rescinded under paragraph (1).
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