I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 229 

To impose sanctions with respect to members of the Chinese Communist 

Party and heads of Chinese health agencies relating to the COVID– 

19 pandemic, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. WITTMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Education and the Workforce, and Energy and Commerce, for a 

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To impose sanctions with respect to members of the Chinese 

Communist Party and heads of Chinese health agencies 

relating to the COVID–19 pandemic, 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 ‘‘World Deserves To 

5 Know Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CER2 TAIN MEMBERS OF THE CHINESE COM3 MUNIST PARTY AND HEADS OF CHINESE 

4 HEALTH AGENCIES RELATING TO THE 

5 COVID–19 PANDEMIC. 

6 (a) CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY MEMBERS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose 

8 the sanctions described in section 1263 of the Global 

9 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 

10 U.S.C. 2656 note) with respect to any foreign per11 son who is an official of the Chinese Communist 

12 Party that the President determines is knowingly re13 sponsible for, complicit in, or has directly or indi14 rectly engaged in— 

15 (A) the disappearances of whistleblowers 

16 and citizen journalists in the People’s Republic 

17 of China relating to the COVID–19 pandemic; 

18 or 

19 (B) the establishment of limits on freedom 

20 of speech and academic freedom in the People’s 

21 Republic of China relating to the COVID–19 

22 pandemic. 

23 (2) COORDINATION.—The President shall co24 ordinate with the intelligence community for pur25 poses of identifying foreign persons under this sub26 section. 


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1 (b) CHINESE HEALTH AGENCIES HEADS.—The 

2 President shall impose the sanctions described in sub3 section (c) with respect to the following foreign persons: 

4 (1) Gao Fu, also known as George Fu Gao, the 

5 Director of the Center for Disease Control and Pre6 vention of the People’s Republic of China. 

7 (2) Ma Xiaowei, Minister of the National 

8 Health Commission of the People’s Republic of 

9 China. 

10 (c) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de11 scribed in this subsection with respect to a foreign person 

12 are the following: 

13 (1) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The President 

14 shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi15 dent under the International Emergency Economic 

16 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that 

17 the requirements of section 202 of such Act (50 

18 U.S.C. 1701) shall not apply) to the extent nec19 essary to block and prohibit all transactions in prop20 erty and interests in property of the person if such 

21 property and interests in property are in the United 

22 States, come within the United States, or come with23 in the possession or control of a United States per24 son. 


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1 (2) INADMISSIBILITY TO THE UNITED STATES

2 AND REVOCATION OF VISA OR OTHER DOCUMENTA3 TION.— 

4 (A) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISA, ADMISSION, 

5 OR PAROLE.—The foreign person is— 

6 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

7 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

8 documentation to enter the United States; 

9 and 

10 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

11 or paroled into the United States or to re12 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra13 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

14 seq.). 

15 (B) CURRENT VISA REVOKED.—The visa 

16 or other entry documentation of the foreign 

17 person shall be revoked, regardless of when 

18 such visa or other entry documentation is or 

19 was issued. A revocation under this subpara20 graph shall take effect immediately and auto21 matically cancel any other valid visa or entry 

22 documentation that is in the person’s posses23 sion. 

24 (d) EXCEPTIONS.— 


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1 (1) TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NATIONS HEAD2 QUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Sanctions under sub3 section (c)(2) shall not apply with respect to a for4 eign person described in subsection (b) if admitting 

5 or paroling the foreign person into the United States 

6 is necessary to permit the United States to comply 

7 with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of 

8 the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 

9 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 

10 1947, between the United Nations and the United 

11 States, or other applicable international obligations. 

12 (2) TO CARRY OUT OR ASSIST LAW ENFORCE13 MENT ACTIVITIES.—Sanctions under this section 

14 shall not apply to a foreign person, if admitting or 

15 paroling the foreign person into the United States is 

16 necessary to carry out or assist law enforcement ac17 tivity in the United States. 

18 (e) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

19 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex20 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

21 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

22 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

23 this section and shall issue such regulations, li24 censes, and orders as are necessary to carry out this 

25 section. 


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1 (2) PENALTIES.—Any person that violates, at2 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

3 violation of this section or any regulation, license, or 

4 order issued to carry out paragraph (1) shall be sub5 ject to the penalties provided for in subsections (b) 

6 and (c) of section 206 of the International Emer7 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 

8 same extent as a person that commits an unlawful 

9 act described in subsection (a) of that section. 

10 (f) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica11 tion of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign person 

12 under this section if the President— 

13 (1) determines that a waiver is in the national 

14 interest of the United States; and 

15 (2) not later than the date on which such waiv16 er will take effect, submits to the appropriate con17 gressional committees a notice of and justification 

18 for such waiver. 

19 (g) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO

20 A FOREIGN PERSON.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may termi22 nate the application of sanctions imposed with re23 spect to a foreign person under this section if the 

24 President makes a determination that— 


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1 (A) credible information exists that the 

2 person did not engage in the activity for which 

3 the sanctions were imposed; and 

4 (B) the person has— 

5 (i) credibly demonstrated a significant 

6 change in behavior; and 

7 (ii) been subject to an appropriate 

8 consequence for the activity for which the 

9 sanctions were imposed. 

10 (2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 15 days be11 fore the date on which the application of sanctions 

12 imposed with respect to a foreign person is termi13 nated under paragraph (1), the Secretary of State 

14 shall submit to the appropriate congressional com15 mittees a report that— 

16 (A) describes the evidence and justification 

17 for the necessity of the termination; and 

18 (B) explains how the termination of the 

19 application of sanctions is in the national secu20 rity interests of the United States. 

21 (h) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE SANC22 TIONS.—The authority to impose sanctions under this sec23 tion with respect to a foreign person described in sub24 section (b) shall terminate on the date on which the Presi25 dent certifies to the appropriate congressional committees 


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1 that an independent, unimpeded investigation into the po2 tential origin of COVID–19 from the Wuhan Institute of 

3 Virology has taken place. 

4 (i) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

5 GOODS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and require7 ments to impose sanctions under this section shall 

8 not include the authority or requirement to impose 

9 sanctions on the importation of goods. 

10 (2) GOOD DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 

11 term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or man12 made substance, material, supply or manufactured 

13 product, including inspection and test equipment, 

14 and excluding technical data. 

15 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON NEW CONTRACTS. 

16 (a) INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—No Federal funds may be 

18 made available to an institution of higher education 

19 (as defined in section 102 of the Higher Education 

20 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) that enters into a 

21 contract with— 

22 (A) any element or department of the Na23 tional Health Commission of the People’s Re24 public of China; 


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1 (B) any agency or office that reports to 

2 the National Health Commission of the People’s 

3 Republic of China; or 

4 (C) any Chinese-based entity affiliated 

5 with the National Health Commission of the 

6 People’s Republic of China. 

7 (2) PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS

8 UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965.—Sec9 tion 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the 

11 end the following: 

12 ‘‘(30) The institution will not enter into a con13 tract with— 

14 ‘‘(A) any element or department of the Na15 tional Health Commission of the People’s Re16 public of China; 

17 ‘‘(B) any agency or office that reports to 

18 the National Health Commission of the People’s 

19 Republic of China; or 

20 ‘‘(C) any Chinese-based entity affiliated 

21 with the National Health Commission of the 

22 People’s Republic of China.’’. 

23 (b) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—No Federal 

24 funds made available to the National Academy of Sciences 

25 may be used to enter into a contract with— 


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1 (1) any element or department of the National 

2 Health Commission of the People’s Republic of 

3 China; 

4 (2) any agency or office that reports to the Na5 tional Health Commission of the People’s Republic 

6 of China; or 

7 (3) any Chinese-based entity affiliated with the 

8 National Health Commission of the People’s Repub9 lic of China. 

10 SEC. 4. REVIEW OF NIH FUNDING. 

11 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

12 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, 

13 in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, 

14 shall— 

15 (1) conduct a full review of all funds made 

16 available by the National Institutes of Health, di17 rectly or indirectly, during or after fiscal year 2010, 

18 to— 

19 (A) the National Health Commission of the 

20 People’s Republic of China; 

21 (B) any agency or office that reports to 

22 the National Health Commission of the People’s 

23 Republic of China; or 


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1 (C) any Chinese-based entity that is affili2 ated with the National Health Commission of 

3 the People’s Republic of China; 

4 (2) make publicly available, and submit to the 

5 Congress, a report on the results of such review; and 

6 (3) in such report, clearly identify any funds 

7 described in paragraph (1) that were used for gain 

8 of function research. 

9 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

10 It is the sense of Congress that given Taiwan’s early 

11 alerting to the global health community on the dangers 

12 of COVID–19 while senior officials in the Chinese Com13 munist Party downplayed COVID–19 Taiwan should be 

14 granted observer status in the World Health Assembly 

15 (WHA). 

16 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 

19 and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 

20 section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

21 (8 U.S.C. 1001). 

22 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

2 Committee on Appropriations, and the Com3 mittee on Financial Services of the House of 

4 Representatives; and 

5 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

6 the Committee on Appropriations, and the 

7 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 

8 Affairs of the Senate. 

9 (3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per10 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

11 person. 

12 (4) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

13 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

14 that term in section 3(4) of the National Security 

15 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 

16 (5) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’ 

17 means, with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or 

18 a result, that a person has actual knowledge, or 

19 should have known, of the conduct, the cir20 cumstance, or the result. 

21 (6) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in22 dividual or entity. 

23 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

24 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 


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1 (A) a United States citizen, an alien law2 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

3 United States, or any other individual subject 

4 to the jurisdiction of the United States; 

5 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

6 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

7 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

8 such entity; or 

9 (C) any person in the United States. 

Æ 


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