Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Tuesday banned U.S. taxpayer funds from going to state-run labs in China after her amendment was unanimously adopted to the “Endless Frontier Act,” which aims to help the United States compete with China in research and development.
AJ Taylor5 days agoLast Updated: May 25, 2021
Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has been sounding the alarm for over a year about U.S. tax dollars being funneled into China’s state-run Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), successfully banned any additional future U.S. funding from going to China’s state-lab. Ernst’s amendment was adopted, with unanimous support, to the
Endless Frontier Act a bill being considered this week in the Senate that aims to help the U.S. compete with China in research and development.
Ernst’s ban on future U.S. funding to the WIV comes after the
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Source: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
While conversation continues as to the origins of the Wuhan coronavirus, which may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Republicans in both houses of Congress are taking steps to ensure there is more transparency, including when it comes to ensuring American taxpayers do not have to fund that Wuhan lab. Townhall spoke to one of those Republicans, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, about how she is contributing to such efforts.
The senator, along with fellow Republicans Roger Marshall of Kansas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has introduced an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act, which was introduced last month by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The National Institutes of Health confirmed Tuesday that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is authorized to receive U.S. taxpayer funding for animal research through January 2024, according to the Daily Caller.
The research lab in Wuhan is suspected to have caused the COVID-19 pandemic through an accidental lab leak and has already received $600,000 in U.S. taxpayer funds between 2014 and 2019 to study bat-based coronaviruses through EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization.
EcoHealth Alliance’s research of bat-based coronaviruses in China was funded by a $3.7 million grant in 2014 from a branch of the NIH, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to the Wall Street Journal. In April, the grant was terminated by the NIH amid criticism over EcoHealth Alliance’s relationship with the Wuhan research lab. The NIH said in a letter that the nonprofit’s work in China did not align with “program goals and agency priorities.”
Catstipation: Legislators Take Action To Stop Gruesome Cat Experiments At VA
Our friends at the White Coat Waste project (WCW) are at it again hitting back against VA waste of taxpayer dollars on animal experiments.
But instead of using op-ed’s and other pressure points in DC, WCW is using billboards to drive home taxpayer accountability.
Over the years, WCW has helped bring attention to the use of taxpayer dollars to experiment on animals when appropriate substitutes can be found.
Back in September, WCW and its team nonprofit tax activists threw a little kitty litter in the eyes of the VA Secretary and personnel at the Cleveland VAMC.