The House of Representatives unanimously voted Friday to declassify U.S. intelligence about the origins of the Covid-19 virus.
The vote to approve the bill was 419-0; the legislation next goes to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
“The American public deserves answers to every aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said House Intelligence Committee Chair Michael Turner (R-OH).
The language in the legislation focused on intel related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. It cited “potential links” between the research that was done there and the outbreak of the pandemic.
The World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic three years ago Saturday—on March 11, 2020.
In late February the U.S. the Department of Energy concluded with “low confidence” that the Covid-19 virus likely originated in that lab in Wuhan, rather than from natural causes.
China quickly went on the defensive, saying it has been “open and transparent” about Covid’s origin. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning Mao told reporters on February 28 that China has “shared the most data and research results on virus tracing and made important contributions to global virus tracing research.”
Also on February 28, the newly-formed House Committee on China held its first hearing. Among the topics the committee plans to investigate are military threats, economic competitiveness and human rights.
The 118th Congress has found rare bipartisan aims surrounding U.S. tensions with China, escalated recently by diplomatic strains following the Pentagon’s downing of a Chinese spy balloon that crossed the country last month.
While some scientists are open to the Wuhan lab-leak theory, others have focused on the theory that Covid, like many other viruses, came from animals, mutated, then jumped to people. Some experts believe its origins may never be known.
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