by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 10, 2023) — As of Friday morning, the U.S. House and Senate voted “unanimously” to require the director of national intelligence to release “all intelligence” associated with the origins of the COVID-19 virus within 90 days.
Titled the “COVID-19 Origin Act,” the bill requires Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to “declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin” of the virus, according to The Hill.
Over the last three years, two major theories have emerged as to the origin of the virus which prompted global “pandemic” declarations in March 2020: that it came from an animal in a wet market in Wuhan City, Wuhan Province, China and “jumped” to humans; or that the virus was engineered within the walls of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and escaped, either accidentally or by deliberate design.
Evidence appears to show that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), until recently led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who became the face of the United States’ response to the declared global pandemic, funded controversial and formerly-banned “gain-of-function” research at the WIV.
Spearheaded by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mike Braun (R-IN), the Senate was the first to vote on the bill’s passage last year and again last week. In the House’s vote Friday, 16 members of a total of 435 did not vote.
“The issue of the origin of the coronavirus has become fiercely politicized on Capitol Hill,” CBS News reported Friday, “with many Republicans using the increased consideration of the lab leak theory to criticize Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for his support of the theory that the virus emerged in a Wuhan market where live animals were sold.”
Politico reported that the bill compels the release of all relevant intelligence possessed by “U.S. agencies” to Congress in an unclassified format.
Having been sent to the White House, as of 2:07 p.m., Biden had not indicated whether or not he would sign the legislation, Business Insider reported. Given the overwhelming approval from both congressional chambers, a presidential veto could be overridden.