I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5379 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish all information in the possession of the Department of Health and Human 

Services relating to the origin of COVID–19, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023 

Mr. ROY (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. BRECHEEN, Mr. BIGGS, and Mr. 

MOORE of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to publish all information in the possession of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to the 

origin of COVID–19, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘HHS COVID–19 Ori5 gin Transparency Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF HHS INFORMATION RELATED TO 

2 THE ORIGIN OF COVID–19. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 

5 and Human Services (in this section referred to as the 

6 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall— 

7 (1) except as provided in subsection (d), publish 

8 all information described in subsection (b); and 

9 (2) submit a report to the Congress containing 

10 a summary of each item of information that is de11 scribed in subsection (b) but withheld from such 

12 publication pursuant to subsection (d). 

13 (b) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The information de14 scribed in this subsection is any and all information in 

15 the possession of the Department of Health and Human 

16 Services (including any agency, office, operating or staff17 ing division, and any other component of the Department, 

18 including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers 

19 for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug 

20 Administration, the Administration for Strategic Pre21 paredness and Response, the Health Resources and Serv22 ice Administration, the Office of National Security, the 

23 Office of Inspector General, and any person under con24 tract to the Department) relating to the Coronavirus Dis25 ease 2019 (COVID–19) outbreak, coronavirus research in26 cluding vaccine development, or the concealment of inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Sep 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5379.IH H5379

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1 mation about the COVID–19 outbreak, including any such 

2 information that consists of— 

3 (1) unpublished and unreleased records includ4 ing— 

5 (A) the report titled ‘‘One Health Zoonotic 

6 Disease Prioritization workshop in China’’ (pre7 pared by the Centers for Disease Control and 

8 Prevention in 2019) and related records; 

9 (B) all records pending authorization or 

10 other approval from any organization of the 

11 People’s Republic of China; 

12 (C) coronavirus research genetic sequence 

13 records in the Sequence Read Archive of the 

14 National Institutes of Health and all requests 

15 from higher educational institutions, research 

16 institutions, or other persons or entities in 

17 China to withdraw or delay sequence data pub18 lication; 

19 (D) all research applications submitted to 

20 an agency of the Public Health Service seeking 

21 funding to undertake coronavirus-related re22 search that were not funded by the relevant 

23 agency; 

24 (E) all coronavirus records; 


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1 (F) all coronavirus research records, in2 cluding— 

3 (i) grant applications, grant research 

4 project annual progress reports, and final 

5 reports; and 

6 (ii) records of compensation for each 

7 researcher— 

8 (I) who was an employee or con9 tractor of the Government of the Peo10 ple’s Republic of China or any entity 

11 (including any public university) con12 trolled by such Government; and 

13 (II) whose compensation was 

14 funded in part, directly or indirectly, 

15 by the Department of Health and 

16 Human Services; and 

17 (G) all records related to the suspension, 

18 denial, termination, or other risk mitigation ac19 tions related to coronavirus research projects; 

20 (H) all records of the Office of Inspector 

21 General of the Department of Health and 

22 Human Services that include— 

23 (i) hotline records, including all refer24 rals from the operating divisions of the De25 partment of Health and Human Services, 


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1 including the National Institutes of 

2 Health; 

3 (ii) communications related to poten4 tial misconduct by employees of the De5 partment of Health and Human Services, 

6 including Anthony Fauci and Francis Col7 lins; 

8 (iii) communications related to poten9 tial monetary fraud or research misconduct 

10 involving grants of the National Institutes 

11 of Health, including any such grants 

12 awarded to EcoHealth Alliance; and 

13 (iv) all EcoHealth Alliance audit 

14 records; 

15 (I) all records involving EcoHealth Alliance 

16 research projects and personnel including— 

17 (i) all names, salaries, levels of effort, 

18 and Department of State clearances; 

19 (ii) all peer review records; and 

20 (iii) all financial records; 

21 (J) all outbreak-related communication 

22 records including observations, reports, memo23 randa, and requests, except individually identifi24 able patient health information, from— 


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1 (i) all personnel of the Department of 

2 Health and Human Services stationed in 

3 China; 

4 (ii) all foreign nationals from China 

5 on visas sponsored directly or indirectly by 

6 the Department of Health and Human 

7 Services, including— 

8 (I) personnel located in the 

9 United States; and 

10 (II) personnel teleworking from 

11 China; 

12 (K) all memoranda of understanding, data 

13 sharing agreements, and intellectual property 

14 transfer commitments between the Department 

15 of Health and Human Services and academic or 

16 public health institutions in the People’s Repub17 lic of China, including— 

18 (i) the Memorandum of Under19 standing for the Collaborative Program on 

20 Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Dis21 eases; 

22 (ii) all material transfer agreements 

23 and intellectual property transfer records 

24 related to coronavirus research and vaccine 

25 development; and 


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1 (iii) all agreements between Depart2 ment of Health and Human Services-spon3 sored principal investigators and any orga4 nization involving the transfer of 

5 coronavirus research data to academic or 

6 public health institutions in the People’s 

7 Republic of China; and 

8 (L) analysis of the first 6,000 patients 

9 hospitalized in Wuhan, China, of whom 1,100 

10 had severe COVID–19 disease; 

11 (2) a record pertaining to sick researchers in 

12 Wuhan, China, during the fall of 2019, including for 

13 any such researcher— 

14 (A) the researcher’s name, laboratory 

15 name, laboratory role, symptoms, and date of 

16 symptom onset; 

17 (B) whether the researcher was involved 

18 with or exposed to coronavirus research in 

19 Wuhan research laboratories; 

20 (C) whether the researcher visited a hos21 pital or medical clinic while they were ill; and 

22 (D) a description of any other actions 

23 taken by the researcher that may suggest they 

24 were experiencing a serious illness at the time; 


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1 (3) a record pertaining to coronavirus research 

2 conducted in cooperation with any Chinese national 

3 public research university affiliated with and funded 

4 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Tech5 nology of China, including Beihang University, Bei6 jing Institute of Technology, Harbin Engineering 

7 University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nanjing 

8 University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 

9 University of Science and Technology, Northwestern 

10 Polytechnical University, PLA Naval University of 

11 Engineering, PLA National Defence University, 

12 PLA Information Engineering University, and the 

13 PLA Academy of Military Science; and 

14 (4) a record pertaining to concerns of bio15 weapon programs in China, including all records re16 lated to the evaluation and analysis of the SARS– 

17 CoV–2 virus as a potential bioweapon, including 

18 records from the Integrated Research Facility at 

19 Fort Detrick. 

20 (c) IDENTIFICATION OF INFORMATION SUPPLIED TO

21 INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—In publishing information 

22 pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall identify 

23 any such information that was supplied by the Depart24 ment of Health and Human Services to any agency of the 

25 intelligence community in support of the intelligence comVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Sep 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5379.IH H5379

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1 munity’s COVID–19 origins assessments from the onset 

2 of the outbreak of COVID–19 through the date of enact3 ment of this Act. 

4 (d) WITHHOLDING OF CERTAIN INFORMATION.—Ex5 cept as inconsistent with subsection (b), the Secretary 

6 may, in accordance with other applicable law, withhold or 

7 redact from publication under subsection (a)(1) any infor8 mation that— 

9 (1) is classified and for which the Department 

10 of Health and Human Services was not the original 

11 classification authority; 

12 (2) is individually identifiable information; or 

13 (3) is national security, confidential commercial, 

14 or proprietary information. 

15 (e) DECLASSIFICATION.—The Secretary shall— 

16 (1) to the extent necessary to publish pursuant 

17 to subsection (a)(1) all information described in sub18 section (b), declassify any such information for 

19 which the Department of Health and Human Serv20 ices was the original classification authority; or 

21 (2) certify in the publication that no such clas22 sified information exists. 

23 (f) FAILURE TO PUBLISH.—Beginning on the day 

24 that is 91 calendar days after the date of enactment of 

25 this Act— 


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1 (1) of the unobligated amounts appropriated or 

2 otherwise made available to the immediate Office of 

3 the Secretary of Health and Human Services— 

4 (A) there is rescinded an amount equal to 

5 $1,000,000 for each calendar day on which the 

6 Secretary of Health and Human Services 

7 fails— 

8 (i) to make the publication required 

9 by subsection (a)(1); or 

10 (ii) to submit the report required by 

11 subsection (a)(2); and 

12 (B) the amount so rescinded shall be de13 posited into the general fund of the Treasury 

14 for the sole purpose of reducing the national 

15 debt; and 

16 (2) the Secretary may not reprogram or use 

17 any other funds to replace any funds that are re18 scinded under paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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