Global Courant
EXCLUSIVE: Two Republican senators are demanding that President Biden abide by the COVID origins bill he signed into law earlier this year, which requires the release of all information related to the links between a Chinese lab and the origins of COVID-19.
The Biden administration has yet to respond to the requirements outlined in the COVID-19 Origins Act of 2023 despite the fact that the deadline for declassification – June 18 – is fast approaching.
“We are writing today to urge the prompt and full implementation of the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, which Congress passed unanimously and you signed on March 20, 2023,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Mike Braun, R-Ind., wrote in a letter sent to Biden on Wednesday and shared with Fox News Digital.
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“As you know, the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to ‘disclose all information’ regarding links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19 within 90 days of the entry into force of the law,” they wrote.
Hawley and Braun added that the administration had not yet provided any indication of when the relevant material would be released, noting that the law also required “all information” to be passed to Congress.
Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., (left) and Senator Mike Braun, R-Ind., (right). (Getty Images)
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They wrote that the law does not allow editing of the information, but it did provide for a narrower scope of editing to “protect information sources and methods.”
“Your administration must abide by written law and not undermine the clear intent of Congress to provide as much transparency as possible to the American people,” Hawley and Braun wrote.
“The American people deserve to know how this pandemic began, and their democratically elected representatives have unanimously expressed their will. I urge you not to stand in their way,” they added.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak in the East Room of the White House on June 8, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.
