Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01), Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced the reintroduction of “The World Deserves to Know Act,” which would require sanctions on certain members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and officials of Chinese health agencies in relation to any involvement in the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In light of reports that the Department of Energy joins the FBI in assessing the COVID-19 pandemic ‘likely’ originated from a Chinese lab leak, this legislation is just as, if not more, critical as it was when the pandemic began,” said Congressman Wittman. “COVID-19 has caused millions of deaths throughout the world, and we deserve answers as to how this pandemic began and what will be done to hold those responsible accountable. China continues to block a free and fair investigation into the origins of COVID-19 – rather than vague threats or cheap talk, we need answers. I will continue to advocate for ‘The World Deserves to Know Act’ to become law and continue to seek the truth into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The World Deserves to Know Act:

• Directs the Intelligence Community to identify individuals connected to the silencing of doctors, citizen journalists and others to suppress information relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a possible origin point for COVID-19.
• Imposes Global Magnitsky sanctions upon these individuals and other sanctions on the top two Chinese health officials with early ties to the COVID-19 outbreak who obfuscated actionable information, until they allow an independent, unimpeded investigation into the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential origin for the COVID-19 virus.
• Prohibits U.S. Colleges and Universities from entering into any new contracts with any element of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, any of their subsidiaries, or any Chinese-based Institutes or Universities affiliated with the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China.
• Prohibits the National Academy of Sciences from using federal monies to be used to enter into any new contracts with any element of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, any of their subsidiaries, or any Chinese-based Institutes or Universities affiliated with the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China.
• Initiates a full and public review of National Institute of Health funding which has either directly or indirectly gone to the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, their affiliates, and Gain of Function research.
• Establishes a sense of Congress that—given Taiwan’s early alerting to the global health community on the dangers of COVID-19 while Senior Officials in the Chinese Communist Party downplayed COVID-19’s dangers—Taiwan should be granted Observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA).

Congressman Rob Wittman represents the 1st District of Virginia. He serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, where he serves as the Vice Chairman of the full committee and as the Chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.

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