IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 97 

Establishing the Joint Select Committee on the Events and Activities 

Surrounding China’s Handling of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 17, 2020 

Mr. BARR submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Rules 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Establishing the Joint Select Committee on the Events and 

Activities Surrounding China’s Handling of the 2019 

Novel Coronavirus. 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), 

3 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT. 

4 There is hereby established in the Senate and the 

5 House of Representatives a joint select committee to be 

6 known as the ‘‘Joint Select Committee on the Events and 

7 Activities Surrounding China’s Handling of the 2019 

8 Novel Coronavirus’’ (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Joint 

9 Select Committee’’). 

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1 SEC. 2. MEMBERSHIP. 

2 (a) SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Joint Select Committee 

4 shall be composed of 20 Members of the House of 

5 Representatives and Senate, of whom— 

6 (A) 10 shall be Members of the House of 

7 Representatives, of whom 5 shall be appointed 

8 by the Speaker of the House of Representatives 

9 and 5 shall be appointed by the minority leader 

10 of the House of Representatives; and 

11 (B) 10 shall be Senators, of whom 5 shall 

12 be appointed by the majority leader of the Sen13 ate and 5 shall be appointed by the minority 

14 leader of the Senate. 

15 (2) TREATMENT OF DELEGATE AND RESIDENT

16 COMMISSIONER.—For purposes of this section, a 

17 ‘‘Member’’ of the House of Representatives includes 

18 a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Con19 gress. 

20 (b) CO-CHAIRS.—Two of the members of the Joint 

21 Select Committee shall serve as co-chairs of the Joint Se22 lect Committee, and shall be appointed as follows: 

23 (1) One shall be a Member of the House of 

24 Representatives, who shall be appointed as co-chair 

25 by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 

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1 consultation with the minority leader of the House 

2 of Representatives. 

3 (2) One shall be a Senator, who shall be ap4 pointed as co-chair by the majority leader of the 

5 Senate in consultation with the minority leader of 

6 the Senate. 

7 (c) VACANCIES.—A vacancy in the membership of the 

8 Joint Select Committee (including a vacancy resulting be9 cause a member ceases to be a Member of the House of 

10 Representatives or a Senator) shall not affect its powers, 

11 and shall be filled not later than 14 calendar days after 

12 the date on which the vacancy occurs in the same manner 

13 as the original appointment was made. 

14 (d) DEADLINES.—Members of the Joint Select Com15 mittee and the co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee 

16 shall be appointed not later than 14 calendar days after 

17 the date of the adoption of this concurrent resolution. 

18 SEC. 3. INVESTIGATION AND REPORT ON THE EVENTS SUR19 ROUNDING CHINA’S HANDLING OF THE 2019 

20 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS. 

21 (a) INVESTIGATION AND REPORT.—The Joint Select 

22 Committee is authorized and directed to conduct a full and 

23 complete investigation of, and to issue a final report to 

24 the House of Representatives and Senate regarding, the 

25 following: 

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1 (1) The origins and causes of the 2019 novel 

2 coronavirus. 

3 (2) All policies, decisions, and activities by 

4 China regarding the origins and causes of such 

5 coronavirus. 

6 (3) All policies, decisions, and activities by 

7 China in response to the initial outbreak and spread 

8 of such coronavirus. 

9 (4) All policies, decisions, and activities by 

10 China to suppress facts and information regarding 

11 the spread, origins, causes, and transmission of such 

12 coronavirus, including efforts to silence those mak13 ing early warnings, punish whistleblowers, and re14 strict freedom of information about such coronavi15 rus. 

16 (5) All policies, decisions, and activities by 

17 China to spread misinformation regarding the ori18 gins and causes of such coronavirus, including accu19 sations and misinformation that the coronavirus was 

20 brought to the city of Wuhan by the United States 

21 military. 

22 (6) All policies, decisions, and activities by 

23 China to sideline, deny, and suppress charitable 

24 service organizations, institutions of civil society, 

25 secular and faith-based non-governmental organizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Apr 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC97.IH HC97
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1 tions, international humanitarian organizations, and 

2 foreign governments offering to provide information, 

3 expertise, resources, and assistance to China and the 

4 Chinese people to combat such coronavirus. 

5 (7) Accountability for policies, decisions and ac6 tivities related to influencing the World Health Or7 ganization’s response to the outbreak of such 

8 coronavirus, including individuals and entities re9 sponsible for those policies, decisions, and activities. 

10 (8) All policies, decisions, and activities by 

11 China to manufacture, produce, procure, possess, or 

12 hoard personal protective equipment and critical 

13 pharmaceutical components to manipulate or 

14 weaponize the supply chain against the international 

15 community, including the United States. 

16 (9) Vulnerabilities in the United States domes17 tic and global supply chain to combat a global pan18 demic due to reliance on Chinese manufacturing and 

19 recommendations for decreasing dependence on Chi20 nese manufacturing by improving and securing a do21 mestic supply chain for antibiotics, viral drugs, crit22 ical pharmaceutical components, masks, and other 

23 personal protective equipment. 

24 (10) Information related to lessons learned 

25 from China’s handling of such coronavirus. 

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1 (11) Any other relevant issues relating to Chi2 na’s actions that led to further spread of such 

3 coronavirus, China’s response to such coronavirus, 

4 or the investigation by the Joint Select Committee 

5 into China regarding such coronavirus. 

6 (12) Any recommendations to Congress and the 

7 executive branch regarding actions the United States 

8 government should take in response to China’s han9 dling of such coronavirus. 

10 (b) TRANSFER OF RECORDS.—At the request of the 

11 co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee, any standing 

12 committee of the Senate or House of Representatives hav13 ing custody of records in any form relating to the matters 

14 described in subsection (a) shall transfer such records to 

15 the Joint Select Committee. 

16 (c) INTERIM REPORTS.—In addition to the final re17 port issued under subsection (a), the Joint Select Com18 mittee may issue such interim reports as it considers nec19 essary. 

20 (d) CLASSIFIED ANNEX.—The Joint Select Com21 mittee may include a classified annex in any report issued 

22 under this section. 

23 (e) DEFINITIONS.— 

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1 (1) CHINA.—In this section, the term ‘‘China’’ 

2 means the Government of the People’s Republic of 

3 China and any of the following: 

4 (A) An official of the Chinese Communist 

5 Party. 

6 (B) An official of the Government of the 

7 People’s Republic of China. 

8 (C) An agent or instrumentality of the 

9 Government of the People’s Republic of China. 

10 (D) Any other person owned or controlled 

11 by or acting on behalf of any person described 

12 in subparagraphs (A) through (C). 

13 (2) 2019 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS.—In this sub14 section, the term ‘‘2019 novel coronavirus’’ means 

15 the coronavirus disease (COVID–19) and severe 

16 acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS– 

17 CoV–2). 

18 SEC. 4. POWERS. 

19 (a) HEARINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.—For the 

20 purpose of carrying out its duties, the Joint Select Com21 mittee may hold such hearings and undertake such other 

22 activities as the Joint Select Committee determines to be 

23 necessary to carry out its duties, whether the Congress 

24 is in session, has recessed, or has adjourned. 

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1 (b) AUTHORITY TO USE SUBPOENAS.—The Joint Se2 lect Committee may require by subpoena the attendance 

3 of such witnesses and the production of such books, pa4 pers, and documents, as it considers appropriate. 

5 (c) ACCESS TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH SERVICES.— 

6 The Joint Select Committee shall have access to the serv7 ices of the Government Accountability Office, the Congres8 sional Budget Office, and the Congressional Research 

9 Service in the same manner and under the same terms 

10 and conditions as any standing committee of the House 

11 of Representatives or Senate. 

12 (d) ADOPTION OF RULES.—Not later than 7 days 

13 after all of its members have been appointed, the Joint 

14 Select Committee shall adopt rules governing its oper15 ations, including rules governing the issuance of sub16 poenas and rules governing the use of official funds for 

17 travel by members and staff, and shall submit such rules 

18 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives and Sec19 retary of the Senate for publication in the Congressional 

20 Record. 

21 SEC. 5. STAFF; FUNDING. 

22 (a) STAFF.— 

23 (1) USE OF EXISTING STAFF.—To the greatest 

24 extent practicable, the Joint Select Committee shall 

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1 utilize the services of staff of employing offices of 

2 the Senate and House of Representatives. 

3 (2) AUTHORITY TO APPOINT STAFF.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each of the co-chairs 

5 of the Joint Select Committee may appoint, 

6 prescribe the duties and responsibilities of, and 

7 fix the pay of such staff as the co-chair con8 siders appropriate to assist the Joint Select 

9 Committee in carrying out its duties, so long as 

10 the number of staff appointed by one of the co11 chairs does not exceed the number of staff ap12 pointed by the other co-chair. 

13 (B) DETAIL OF CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOY14 EES.—Upon the joint request of the co-chairs, 

15 the head of an employing office of the House of 

16 Representatives or Senate (including a joint 

17 committee of the Congress) is authorized to de18 tail, without reimbursement, any of the staff of 

19 the office to the Joint Select Committee to as20 sist the Joint Select Committee in carrying out 

21 its duties. 

22 (3) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—Section 

23 202(i) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 

24 (2 U.S.C. 4301(i)) shall apply with respect to the 

25 Joint Select Committee in the same manner as such 

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1 section applies with respect to a standing committee 

2 of the Senate, except that any consultant whose 

3 services are procured by the Joint Select Committee 

4 shall be selected jointly by the co-chairs of the Joint 

5 Select Committee. 

6 (b) FUNDING.— 

7 (1) VOUCHERS.—Payments for expenses of the 

8 Joint Select Committee shall be made using vouch9 ers authorized by the Joint Select Committee, signed 

10 by co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee, and ap11 proved in a manner directed by the Committee on 

12 Rules and Administration of the Senate and the 

13 Committee on House Administration of the House of 

14 Representatives. 

15 (2) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—There are authorized 

16 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary 

17 for the operation of the Joint Select Committee, of 

18 which— 

19 (A) 50 percent shall be derived from the 

20 applicable accounts of the House of Representa21 tives; and 

22 (B) 50 percent shall be derived from the 

23 contingent fund of the Senate. 

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1 SEC. 6. TERMINATION. 

2 (a) TERMINATION DATE.—The Joint Select Com3 mittee shall terminate 30 days after filing the final report 

4 required under section 3. 

5 (b) TRANSFER OF RECORDS.—Upon termination of 

6 the Joint Select Committee, the records of the Joint Select 

7 Committee shall be transferred to— 

8 (1) such committee or committees of the House 

9 of Representatives as may be designated by the 

10 Speaker of the House of Representatives; and 

11 (2) such committee or committees of the Senate 

12 as my be designated by the President pro tempore 

13 of the Senate. 

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