Cathy McMorris Rodgers - the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee | Official U.S. House headshot
Cathy McMorris Rodgers - the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee | Official U.S. House headshot
On May 15, 2024, in Washington, D.C., the House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued a joint statement. This followed the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) announcement regarding the suspension and proposed debarment of EcoHealth Alliance from receiving federal funding.
In their statement, they declared, “This announcement is welcomed but long overdue. Not only did EcoHealth Alliance intend to mislead the federal government through research proposals, but EcoHealth’s President Peter Daszak also lied to Congress. This deception and obstruction alone are enough to merit debarment and come in addition to EcoHealth’s mishandling of taxpayer-funded grant money and failure to conduct meaningful oversight of the now-debarred Wuhan Institute of Virology."
The committee chairs further commended the U.S. Right to Know for revealing notes from the DEFUSE Project grant application that exposed Daszak's deception. They also acknowledged members from both sides of the aisle who worked towards holding him accountable.
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