Title: 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.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the global COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak is a direct result of China's human rights abuses and propaganda campaign and that China should be held accountable for its handling of the outbreak.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 944 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 COVID-
                                  19.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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 comprehensive 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
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the global outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 
        (commonly referred to as ``COVID-19'') is a direct result of 
        the People's Republic of China's long and appalling record of 
        human rights abuses, including its suppression of the freedom 
        of expression, as well as its aggressive domestic and global 
        propaganda campaign;
            (2) the People's Republic of China should be held 
        accountable for its handling of the COVID-19; and
            (3) the United States and other countries should 
        permanently withhold payments on debts owed to the People's 
        Republic of China in amounts equal to the public costs incurred 
        by such countries relating to COVID-19.
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