Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1346 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1346
5	5	To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information
6	6	relating to the origin of COVID–19, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH3, 2023
9	9	Mr. G
10	10	ALLAGHER(for himself, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. STEWART, Mr. RUTHER-
11	11	FORD, Mr. CLOUD, Mr. GREENof Tennessee, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. PFLUGER,
12	12	and Mr. W
13	13	EBSTERof Florida) introduced the following bill; which was
14	14	referred to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and in addi-
15	15	tion to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be sub-
16	16	sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
17	17	such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify
20	20	information relating to the origin of COVID–19, and
21	21	for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Origin Act 4
26	26	of 2023’’. 5
27	27	SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
28	28	It is the sense of Congress that— 7
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31	31	•HR 1346 IH
32	32	(1) identifying the origin of Coronavirus Dis-1
33	33	ease 2019 (COVID–19) is critical for preventing a 2
34	34	similar pandemic from occurring in the future; 3
35	35	(2) there is reason to believe the COVID–19 4
36	36	pandemic may have originated at the Wuhan Insti-5
37	37	tute of Virology; and 6
38	38	(3) the Director of National Intelligence should 7
39	39	declassify and make available to the public as much 8
40	40	information as possible about the origin of COVID– 9
41	41	19 so the United States and like-minded countries 10
42	42	can— 11
43	43	(A) identify the origin of COVID–19 as ex-12
44	44	peditiously as possible, and 13
45	45	(B) use that information to take all appro-14
46	46	priate measures to prevent a similar pandemic 15
47	47	from occurring again. 16
48	48	SEC. 3. DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO 17
49	49	THE ORIGIN OF COVID–19. 18
50	50	Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-19
51	51	ment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence 20
52	52	shall— 21
53	53	(1) declassify any and all information relating 22
54	54	to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Vi-23
55	55	rology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease 24
56	56	2019 (COVID–19), including— 25
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59	59	•HR 1346 IH
60	60	(A) activities performed by the Wuhan In-1
61	61	stitute of Virology with or on behalf of the Peo-2
62	62	ple’s Liberation Army; 3
63	63	(B) coronavirus research or other related 4
64	64	activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of 5
65	65	Virology prior to the outbreak of COVID–19; 6
66	66	and 7
67	67	(C) researchers at the Wuhan Institute of 8
68	68	Virology who fell ill in autumn 2019, including 9
69	69	for any such researcher— 10
70	70	(i) the researcher’s name; 11
71	71	(ii) the researcher’s symptoms; 12
72	72	(iii) the date of the onset of the re-13
73	73	searcher’s symptoms; 14
74	74	(iv) the researcher’s role at the 15
75	75	Wuhan Institute of Virology; 16
76	76	(v) whether the researcher was in-17
77	77	volved with or exposed to coronavirus re-18
78	78	search at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; 19
79	79	(vi) whether the researcher visited a 20
80	80	hospital while they were ill; and 21
81	81	(vii) a description of any other actions 22
82	82	taken by the researcher that may suggest 23
83	83	they were experiencing a serious illness at 24
84	84	the time; and 25
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87	87	•HR 1346 IH
88	88	(2) submit to Congress an unclassified report 1
89	89	that contains— 2
90	90	(A) all of the information described under 3
91	91	paragraph (1); and 4
92	92	(B) only such redactions as the Director 5
93	93	determines necessary to protect sources and 6
94	94	methods. 7
95	95	Æ
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