COVID RECORD RELEASE ACT
BK NOTES: This is important for a number of reasons, the least of which is to answer the outstanding questions regarding the origin of COVID, whether it was a natural forming disease or one that was intentionally or accidently leaked from the Level 5 - Chemical and Biological Research facility at Wuhan, a facility similar to the Level 5 facility featured in the movie Andromeda Strain. More important is the 90 day deadline for the release of the records - a deadline that was set for last Sunday. Why are there no news reports on this? And did the government actually release the records and where can they be reviewed? And can we get the JFK Records Act of 2023 to pass Congress and get signed into law in the same Unanimous Consent procedure?
News Article from Telegraph - US intelligence prepares for Covid ‘lab leak’ reveal
Letter to BIden : Hawley-COVID-Origins-Letter
COVID RECORDS RELEASE LAW
A bill to declassify COVID-19's origins clears the House and heads to Biden
Updated March 10, 20235:38 PM ET
By Washington NPR - National Public Radio
The House has unanimously passed a bill to require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It cleared the chamber 419-0, with 204 House Democrats joining Republicans in support of the bill. A Senate version of the measure, which was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, passed that chamber by unanimous consent earlier this month.
Biden told reporters he hadn't decided yet whether he will sign the bill. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president is committed to "get to the bottom" of the origins of COVID but also wants to protect classified information.
Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, voiced his support of the bill during floor debate.
"The American public deserves answers to every aspect of COVID-19 pandemic including how this virus was created, and specifically whether it was a natural occurrence or was the result of a lab related event," Turner said.
GOATS AND SODA
What does the science say about the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the House Committee on Intelligence, said ahead of the vote that he was supporting the bill because he thinks transparency on the issue would help silence false theories.
"I believe that the IC [intelligence community] should make as much public as they can," Himes said speaking on the House floor Friday. "Transparency is a critical element of our democracy. The factual grounding of the IC's analysis can be an antidote to the speculation, the rumor and the theories that grow in the absence of good information."
HEALTH
Wray publicly comments on the FBI's position on COVID's origins, adding political fire
He also noted that the bill allows officials to redact information "to protect sources and methods."
The bill comes amid debate over the virus' origins. Eight U.S. government agencies are investigating the source of COVID-19, and they remain very divided on the issue. None of them is certain about the cause. Four lean toward natural causes. Two haven't taken a position. Meanwhile, the evidence produced by the greater scientific community points overwhelmingly to a natural cause, via exposure to an infected animal.
THE COVID RECORDS RELEASE ACT – 118-2 – AND JFK RECORDS
Public Law No. 118-2 (03/20/2023)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/619/text
[118th Congress Public Law 2]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office
[[Page 137 STAT. 4]] Public Law 118-2
118th Congress
An Act
To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purpose : Mar. 20, 2023 - [S. 619
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, : COVID-19 Origin
Act of 2023. 50 USC 3161 note.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) identifying the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is critical for preventing a similar pandemic from occurring in the future;
(2) there is reason to believe the COVID-19 pandemic may have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and
(3) the Director of National Intelligence should declassify and make available to the public as much information as possible about the origin of COVID-19 so the United States and like-minded countries can--
(A) identify the origin of COVID-19 as expeditiously
as possible, and
(B) use that information to take all appropriate measures to prevent a similar pandemic from occurring again.
SEC. 3. DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO THE ORIGIN OF COVID-19.
NOTE DEADLINE: Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall--
BK NOTES: THIS DEADLINE WAS THIS PAST SUNDAY -
(1) declassify any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), including--
(A) activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology with or on behalf of the People's Liberation Army;
(B) coronavirus research or other related activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology prior to the outbreak of COVID-19; and
(C) researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who fell ill in autumn 2019, including for any such researcher--
(i) the researcher's name;
(ii) the researcher's symptoms;
(iii) the date of the onset of the researcher's symptoms;
[[Page 137 STAT. 5]]
(iv) the researcher's role at the Wuhan Institute of Virology;
(v) whether the researcher was involved with or exposed to coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology;
(vi) whether the researcher visited a hospital while they were ill; and
(vii) a description of any other actions taken by the researcher that may suggest they were experiencing a serious illness at the time; and
(2) NOTE: Reports. submit to Congress an unclassified report that contains--
(A) all of the information described under paragraph
(1); and
(B) only such redactions as the Director determine necessary to protect sources and methods.
Approved March 20, 2023.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 619
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 169 (2023):
Mar. 1, considered and passed Senate.
Mar. 10, considered and passed House.
DAILY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS (2023):
Mar. 20, Presidential statement.
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