As I am sure you are aware, over the weekend there was an attempted assassination on President Trump. Violence is never acceptable, not on our streets or in our politics. We thank God that President Trump is alive, we mourn with the Comperatore family, and pray for those who were wounded.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where I serve as Ranking Member, has an obligation to unearth the truth about the failures on Saturday and before, no matter how inconvenient to the government. We will leave no stone unturned.
Chairman Peters and I are requesting an urgent briefing for the members of our committee on the shooting and additional information from U.S. Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to be followed by a public hearing. Additional investigative requests for documents and testimony will follow.
You can learn more about my investigation HERE, including our letter to Secretary Mayorkas and Director Wray, and you can find my latest update below.
Dr. Rand Paul Highlights Need for Independent Oversight of Gain-of-Function Research
This past week, as Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I highlighted the critical need to establish independent oversight of risky gain-of-function research funded by the federal government. Our bipartisan hearing, entitled "Risky Research: Oversight of U.S. Taxpayer Funded High-Risk Virus Research," was the second hearing conducted as part of the Committee's joint investigation into threats posed by high-risk life science research and biodefense in the U.S. and abroad.
During the hearing, I expressed concerns about evidence that the U.S. government was funding risky gain-of-function research overseas with little to no oversight. The research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) failed to undergo review by any safety committee, likely causing a lab leak, which assessments by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conclude led to the origins of COVID-19. Despite these findings, the U.S. government has failed to take any significant action to monitor potentially dangerous life sciences research, allowing American taxpayer dollars to be spent without appropriate oversight.
To address the lack of oversight, I highlighted my new legislation, the Risky Research Review Act (S.4667), a first-of-its-kind proposal to establish a Life Sciences Research Security Board. The independent board will be responsible for thoroughly evaluating gain-of-function research and other studies involving the collection, surveillance, genetic modification, or synthetic creation of potential pandemic pathogens.
One of the witnesses at the hearing, Dr. Robert Redfield, the former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), echoed my concerns about the government's passive approach to oversight and emphasized his belief that biosecurity is the nation's greatest national security threat.
Throughout the hearing, I also drew attention to the significant challenges posed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) obstructing my efforts to obtain crucial information regarding the discussions and debate surrounding the government's deliberations on gain-of-function research.
Both Dr. Redfield and another witness, Dr. Kevin M. Esvelt, an Associate Professor at the MIT Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, criticized NIH's refusal to be transparent and highlighted the resulting damage to overall trust in public health institutions. As was discussed by several members and witnesses in the hearing, the federal government's continued refusal to share unclassified materials with the public only fuels the mistrust that important information is being concealed, and that mistrust was certainly compounded when federal bureaucrats like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins instructed their employees to take down dissenting opinions that contradicted their own.
As our investigation continues, I remain steadfast in my initiative to uncover the truth, implement necessary safeguards, and ultimately learn from COVID-19 in order to prevent future pandemics.
You can watch my opening remarks HERE, and view part one of my questioning HERE and part two HERE.
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