The COVID-19 Origin Act would require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify any information having to do with the origins of the pandemic.
This topic has gained renewed interest with Republicans in the House vowing to investigate the issue further, and some have given credence to the theory that the virus originated from a research lab in China.
Just this week the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held its first hearing on the origins of COVID, with Republicans on the panel bringing in three witnesses who have publicly supported the lab-leak theory.
A major point of contention for Republicans is the question of whether U.S. funding went toward so-called gain-of-function research that could have potentially resulted in an enhanced virus causing the pandemic.
The witnesses who spoke with the panel this week all concluded, despite some of their support of the lab leak theory, that there is no consensus on where COVID-19 originated from, a stance currently held by much of the scientific community.
One of the witnesses, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, told the committee he believed the answer to COVID-19's origins will come from the intelligence community and not the scientific community.
The federal government itself is divided on the issue, with several agencies supporting differing conclusions with varying levels of confidence. Most recently, the Department of Energy concluded with low confidence that COVID-19 originated from a lab, which the FBI also supports. The data that informed the Energy Department's conclusion was not disclosed.
The White House has so far not said whether President Biden will sign the bill once it reaches his desk. When leaving the White House Friday evening, Biden told reporters, "I haven't made that decision yet."
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