The Republican Study Committee is praising President Donald Trump for signing an executive order ending federal funding for gain-of-function research in controversial countries.
President Donald Trump signed the executive order on Monday, which essentially ends the federal funding of such research in countries including China and Iran.
This comes as Trump and others remain firm on the lab leak theory — that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a result of such research.
“It is the policy of the United States to ensure that United States federally funded research benefits American citizens without jeopardizing our Nation’s security, strength, or prosperity,” the executive order reads in part, asserting that the Trump administration will “balance the prevention of catastrophic consequences with maintaining readiness against biological threats and driving global leadership in biotechnology, biological countermeasures, biosecurity, and health research.”
More specifically, the order states that the U.S. will end the federal funding of gain-of-function research “conducted by foreign entities in countries of concern” such as China or “in other countries where there is not adequate oversight to ensure that the countries are compliant with United States oversight standards and policies.”
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Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) of the Republican Study Committee said in a statement that Trump’s directive is “a significant step towards greater government agency accountability.”
“While this news is welcomed by many who have closely investigated COVID-19 origins, I believe future congressional action is essential to monitoring gain-of-function research of concern, reforming our public health agencies and protecting American life from risky experiments that involve dangerous virus transmission in humans,” Griffith added.
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), who served on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said he “saw firsthand how reckless and unaccountable gain-of-function experiments truly were—especially in secretive, unregulated labs.”
“It’s indefensible that American tax dollars ever supported this kind of research,” the congressman said. “President Trump is taking the long-overdue step to put an end to it.”
Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) agreed that Trump’s decision to stop taxpayer funding of gain-of-function experiments in controversial countries is the right move.
“President Trump is right to cut off taxpayer funding for dangerous gain-of-function experiments recklessly championed by corrupt Anthony Fauci,” she said. “As we’ve seen, this type of research poses a serious threat to public safety, and I applaud the President for taking decisive action to shut it down and protect the American people.”
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Upon showcasing the order, President Trump suggested to reporters that the pandemic could have been avoided if such was in place years ago.
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