Republican lawmakers have labeled as “absolutely reckless” a decision to grant a further $2.3 Million to the very same outfit at the centre of the likely coronavirus lab leak that led directly to a the global pandemic.

As reported by The Daily Mail, The Biden Administration, via the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has renewed the taxpayer grant to EcoHealth Alliance to research bat coronaviruses over the next four years, with the proviso that no gain of function activity is carried out.

The funding was previously blocked when it emerged that zoologist Peter Daszak had enabled the funnelling of the money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the research into making the virus more deadly was carried out.

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said “It’s absolutely reckless that the NIH has renewed a grant for EcoHealth Alliance given their negligence and the breach of their contract with the NIH on the coronavirus research done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

Griffith added that EcoHealth has “not been contrite” about the Wuhan lab connection and has actively refused to cooperate with Congressional investigations.

“Until they can demonstrate a willingness to work with Congress to resolve outstanding questions and fulfill all of the terms of their federal contracts, paid for with American taxpayer dollars, all funding should remain suspended, and no new contracts should be awarded,” Griffith urged.

GOP Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa added that the renewal of the NIH grant “doesn’t pass the COVID smell test,” further noting that “Ecohealth has already betrayed the trust of American taxpayers by funneling funds to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology for risky experiments on bat coronaviruses that may have unleashed the COVID-19 pandemic on the world.”

“Americans deserve accountability, which is why it’s past time to defund EcoHealth,” she added.

Kentucky Congressman James Comer asserted that “It’s bat crazy that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is resuming a suspended grant and allowing EcoHealth Alliance access to taxpayer dollars to conduct research on bat coronaviruses,” adding that the outfit “funneled taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan lab to conduct mad scientist research on bat coronaviruses that may have started the pandemic.”

“EcoHealth shouldn’t receive another dime from the U.S. government until we fully investigate what happened at the Wuhan lab,” Comer emphasised.

Last month, during a House hearing on the origins of the COVID Pandemic, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declared that “a lab leak is the only explanation credibly supported by our intelligence, by science and by common sense.”

A Senate report also concluded that the pandemic most likely came from a lab leak and was the result of a “research-related incident” in Wuhan.

The 300-page document notes that the theory that COVID-19 jumped from animals to humans in a market “no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”

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Senator Rand Paul grilled Samantha Power, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), during a Senate Foreign Relations Hearing Wednesday, accusing Power of working to withhold information requested by Republicans on the origins of COVID-19.

Paul immediately asked Power if USID had funded coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, prompting her to automatically deny any gain of function research took place.

“That is not the question,” Paul shot back, before noting that huge grants totalling 200 million dollars, under the PREDICT program, were given to coronavirus researchers in China, some of which were stationed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Paul continued, “In September of last year, I wrote Ms. Power or USAID a request asking for records from the PREDICT program. These are not classified. These are simply records of scientific research. And we want to read the grants to find out what they were doing and whether the research was dangerous or not. The response I got from your agency was USAID will not be providing any documents at this time.”

“They’re just unwilling to give documents on scientific grant proposals. We’re paying for it. They’re asking for $745 million more in money, and we get no response,” Paul further explained.

“20 million people died around the world. You’re supposed to be an agency that cares about the death of people around the world. We, you know, talk about starvation and famine and 20 million people died from a virus. And you won’t give us the basic information about what grants you’re funding around the world and who you’re funding,” the Senator continued.

“The American people think this, that because you won’t respond because you respond with a non-response, that you have something to hide. I don’t know if you have anything to hide or not. I want to see every grant proposal that had to do with coronaviruses that went to China from the U.S. government, from all facets of the U.S. government and every bit of the Biden administration is stonewalling us and will not give us the information…You are not being honest,” Paul asserted.

Watch:

In a press release, Paul further noted “this isn’t just a USAID problem of concealing information, this is a Biden administration-wide problem in which there is a concerted effort to withhold critical information from Congress on the origins of COVID-19.”

Paul notes that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Department of Human Health Services Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Defense Lloyd Austin, Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health Lawrence Tabak, and Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development Samantha Power have all failed to reply to requests for information from the Senators.

Last month Paul, who has vowed to find the paper trail for the origins of the COVID lab leak, grilled Blinken and noted that documents related to funding of coronavirus research have not been provided to him despite repeated requests.

“My question is, what’s the State Department hiding?” Paul asked, adding “Why won’t you give these records to the American people?”

“We want to read the research grant proposals. We want to read what the people in Wuhan sent back to the State Department saying they did. Which viruses did they create?” Paul further urged.

“And yet you won’t help us investigate this. You refuse and it makes — it is reminiscent of the countries we criticize for lack of transparency. And yet you sit there and say you’re still going to continue to refuse,” Paul told Blinken.

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During a House hearing Tuesday on the origins of the COVID Pandemic, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declared that “a lab leak is the only explanation credibly supported by our intelligence, by science and by common sense.”

Ratcliffe told Representatives “from a view inside, if our intelligence and evidence supporting a lab leak was placed side by side with our intelligence and evidence pointing to a natural origin or spillover theory, the lab leak side of the ledger would be long, convincing, and overwhelming. While the spillover side would be nearly empty.”

“Were this a trial, the preponderance of circumstantial evidence provided by our intelligence would compel a jury finding of guilt,” Ratcliffe added.

Watch:

Elsewhere during the hearing, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Feith noted that officials in the State Department were against investigating U.S. funding gain-of-function research relating to the outbreak, suggesting that it could “open a Pandora’s box”.

The full hearing is below:

Meanwhile, in the Senate Rand Paul confronted DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas concerning the origins of COVID. Mayorkas tried to avoid answering any questions on it, instead hyping up DHS’ efforts to set up vaccination centres.

Paul also noted that “The most significant source of disinformation during the pandemic with the most influence and greatest impact on people’s lives was the U.S. government.”

Paul later appeared on Fox News, noting that there is a “mountain of evidence” that the virus came from a lab and no proof it came from animals.

Paul further charged that in his role at the National Institutes of Health, Anthony Fauci made a “COVID judgment error that allowed millions to die.”

The hearings come after a Senate report concluded that the pandemic most likely came from a lab leak and was the result of a “research-related incident” in Wuhan.

The 300-page document notes that the theory that COVID-19 jumped from animals to humans in a market “no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”

The report also states that Chinese researchers appeared to begin development of at least two Covid vaccines at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in November 2019, “before the known outbreak of the pandemic”.

The report is below: