US House unanimously backs COVID origins information declassification
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[March 11, 2023]
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted
unanimously on Friday to require Director of National Intelligence Avril
Haines to declassify information on the origins of COVID-19, increasing
pressure on President Joe Biden's administration to allow its release.
The vote was 419 to 0 in favor. Since the Senate on March 1 passed the
bill - by unanimous consent - it now goes to the White House for Biden
to sign into law or veto.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
his intentions.
Washington has been conducting a highly politicized debate about the
origins of the coronavirus pandemic almost since the first human cases
were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, amid calls from
both Democrats and Republicans to push back harder against a rising
China.
The debate was refueled last month, when the Wall Street Journal first
reported that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic
likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing
denies.
The department made its judgment with "low confidence" in a classified
intelligence report, the Journal said. Four other U.S. agencies still
judge that COVID-19 was likely the result of natural transmission, while
two are undecided.
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U.S. Representative Mike Turner (R-OH)
questions the witnesses during a House Armed Services Committee
hearing on "Ending the U.S. Military Mission in Afghanistan" in the
Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, U.S., September 29,
2021. Rod Lamkey/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Biden administration officials have
said the pandemic's origins may never be known. China said claims
that a laboratory leak likely caused the pandemic have no
credibility.
"The American people need to know all the aspects, including how
this virus was created and specifically was the natural occurrence
the result of a lab-related event?" Representative Mike Turner, the
Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said as he
urged support for the measure.
Representative Jim Himes, the panel's top Democrat, called the bill
an important first step. "I hope it will clear up some of the
speculation, some of the rumors that are out there," he said.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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