Building on her efforts to protect Iowa taxpayers from subsidizing China’s wet markets, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) is calling on Congress to end taxpayer funding of China’s dangerous Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) laboratory, which is run by a Communist regime with a history of deception about the causes of deadly disease outbreaks, including the novel coronavirus outbreak. In a bicameral letter, Ernst and her colleagues expressed their deep concern over past federal funding to the controversial Chinese state-run WIV laboratory.
“We’re sure you agree that taxpayers’ money should not be sent to a dangerous Chinese state-run bio-agent laboratory that lacks any meaningful oversight from U.S. authorities and is run by adversaries with a history of lab leaks, including SARS, and deception about the causes and extent of deadly disease outbreaks, including COVID-19,” Ernst and her colleagues wrote. “Although President Trump has stated that his administration ‘will end that grant quickly,’ we hope to ensure that WIV will not receive federal funds in any future spending packages.”
To read the full letter, click here.
Background:
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Senator Ernst has worked to increase transparency and accountability to prevent future outbreaks. Today, Senator Ernst is proposing bipartisan legislation to ban taxpayer money from being spent at China’s unregulated wet markets. Ernst awarded her monthly Squeal Award to the bureaucrats at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for purchasing animals at China’s wet markets with taxpayer money.
Ernst also joined a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) demanding answers regarding its role in helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up information regarding the threat to coronavirus.
