IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 944 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the People’s 

Republic of China should be held accountable for its handling of COVID19. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2020 

Mr. MAST submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the People’s Republic of China should be held accountable for its handling of COVID-19. 

Whereas the first reported case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 

(commonly referred to as ‘‘COVID-19’’) was reported as 

early as November 17, 2019; 

Whereas the first human-to-human transmission of the disease was recorded by doctors in Wuhan, China on December 8, 2019; 

Whereas the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission did not 

inform the World Health Organization (WHO) of the 

outbreak until December 31, 2019; 

Whereas Chinese social media censors curbed alerts of the 

outbreak to the public, including by blocking a comVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Apr 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR944.IH HR944

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•HRES 944 IH 

prehensive list of coronavirus-related terms from online 

discussion; 

Whereas Dr. Li Wenliang, a physician at Wuhan Central hospital who warned his colleagues of the possible outbreak 

of COVID-19 in December 2019, was summoned and admonished by Wuhan police for ‘‘making false comments 

on the Internet’’, and later died of the virus; 

Whereas, on January 3, 2020, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) ordered institutions ‘‘not to publish any 

information related to the unknown disease’’ and ordered 

labs to ‘‘transfer any samples they had to designated 

testing institutions or to destroy them’’; 

Whereas the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, was not notified by his 

Chinese colleagues of COVID-19 until January 3, 2020, 

47 days after the first reported case of the virus; 

Whereas nearly six weeks after doctors in Wuhan raised the 

possibility of human-to-human transmission of the virus, 

Chinese officials continued to deny any recorded cases of 

such transmissions; 

Whereas Chinese authorities did not begin taking steps toward locking down the city of Wuhan until January 23, 

2020, over two months after the first reported case of 

COVID-19; 

Whereas critics of China’s slow response to the outbreak, including Chinese businessman Ren Zhiqiang, were reported to have disappeared; and 

Whereas a growing consensus of United States officials now 

believe that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute 

of Virology as part of efforts to study and combat viruses: Now, therefore, be it 


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•HRES 944 IH 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the global outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 

4 2019 (commonly referred to as ‘‘COVID-19’’) is a 

5 direct result of the People’s Republic of China’s long 

6 and appalling record of human rights abuses, includ7 ing its suppression of the freedom of expression, as 

8 well as its aggressive domestic and global propa9 ganda campaign; 

10 (2) the People’s Republic of China should be 

11 held accountable for its handling of the COVID-19; 

12 and 

13 (3) the United States and other countries 

14 should permanently withhold payments on debts 

15 owed to the People’s Republic of China in amounts 

16 equal to the public costs incurred by such countries 

17 relating to COVID-19. 

Æ 


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