IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 909 

Supporting an international investigation into the handling by the Government 

of the People’s Republic of China of COVID–19 and the impact thereof 

on the people of the United States and other nations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2020 

Ms. STEFANIK submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting an international investigation into the handling 

by the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

of COVID–19 and the impact thereof on the people 

of the United States and other nations. 

Whereas the novel coronavirus, hereafter referred to as 

COVID–19, emerged in the People’s Republic of China 

and began to spread as early as November 2019; 

Whereas, by late December, dozens of citizens of the People’s 

Republic of China had fallen victim to COVID–19; 

Whereas, on December 30, Wuhan health authorities identified, interrogated, and reprimanded multiple doctors in 

response to their decisions to warn other Chinese citizens 

of the danger posed by this new disease; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 909 IH 

Whereas, on January 1, 2020, the Wuhan Public Security 

Bureau questioned eight Chinese doctors who had posted 

information on COVID–19 on WeChat; 

Whereas, on January 1, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission ordered laboratories to stop testing for COVID– 

19 and destroy samples of the same; 

Whereas, on January 2, the Wuhan Institute of Virology 

mapped the genome of COVID–19 in order to inform development of public health interventions and medical 

treatments for COVID–19, but the Government of the 

People’s Republic of China withheld genetic information 

on COVID–19 until January 9; 

Whereas, on January 11, the Wuhan Health Commission insisted that there were no new cases of infection by 

COVID–19; 

Whereas, on January 13, the first COVID–19 case outside of 

the People’s Republic of China was announced in Thailand; 

Whereas, on January 14, the World Health Organization announced that the Government of the People’s Republic of 

China had seen ‘‘no clear evidence of human-to-human 

transmission of the novel coronavirus’’; 

Whereas, on January 23, the Government of the People’s Republic of China began to implement quarantine measures 

to stem the spread of COVID–19, at the same time as 

the disease had already begun to proliferate throughout 

the world; 

Whereas, on March 11, the World Health Organization declared COVID–19 a global pandemic, with 118,000 persons infected and 4,291 dead in 114 different countries 

at the time of the announcement; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 909 IH 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

has argued recently that COVID–19 did not originate in 

the People’s Republic of China; 

Whereas the Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of 

China has alleged that the United States Army may have 

delivered COVID–19 to the city of Wuhan in the People’s 

Republic of China; 

Whereas the Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of 

China has said, ‘‘China’s endeavor to combating [sic] the 

epidemic has bought time for [international] preparedness’’; and 

Whereas a University of Southampton study found that earlier intervention by the Government of the People’s Republic of China could have ‘‘significantly’’ limited the geographic spread of COVID–19: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) condemns the decision by the Government 

3 of the People’s Republic of China to hide the emer4 gence and spread of COVID–19 within its borders 

5 during the initial weeks of the pandemic; 

6 (2) assesses that the decision by the Govern7 ment of the People’s Republic of China to hide the 

8 emergence and spread of COVID–19 during that pe9 riod almost certainly contributed to the rapid spread 

10 of that disease throughout the Indo-Pacific, Europe, 

11 and the rest of the world; 

12 (3) finds that the Government of the People’s 

13 Republic of China should be held accountable for the 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 909 IH 

1 impact of its decision to hide the emergence and 

2 spread of COVID–19 on the lives and livelihoods of 

3 the people of the United States and other nations; 

4 (4) calls for an international investigation led 

5 by public health officials from the United States and 

6 other affected nations to determine how the handling 

7 by the Government of the People’s Republic of 

8 China of the COVID–19 outbreak prior to March 

9 11, 2020, contributed to the emergence of the 

10 COVID–19 global pandemic; and 

11 (5) calls on the international community to— 

12 (A) quantify the harm caused by the han13 dling of the Government of the People’s Repub14 lic of China to the health and economic well15 being of the people of the United States and 

16 other nations; and 

17 (B) design a mechanism for delivering 

18 compensation from the Government of the Peo19 ple’s Republic of China to all affected nations 

20 for the harm caused by its decision to hide the 

21 emergence and spread of COVID–19 during the 

22 initial weeks of the pandemic. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS