Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need to conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine the origins of COVID-19.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the World Health Organization must immediately conduct a comprehensive investigation of the origins of COVID-19 with access to all relevant records, samples, and personnel in China. It also states that the U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly should work with allies and partners to ensure that the assembly authorizes such an investigation.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 256 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 256

  Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need to conduct a 
   comprehensive investigation to determine the origins of COVID-19.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 28 (legislative day, May 27), 2021

Mr. Marshall (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the need to conduct a 
   comprehensive investigation to determine the origins of COVID-19.

Whereas COVID-19 has taken the lives of nearly 3,500,000 individuals around the 
        world;
Whereas understanding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to 
        addressing our vulnerabilities and preventing future crises;
Whereas, in May 2020, the World Health Assembly did not authorize a 
        comprehensive investigation into the origins of COVID-19, and instead 
        passed a significantly limited compromise resolution, with Chinese 
        government support, which did not explicitly include in its scope the 
        possibility of a research-related accident;
Whereas the 2020 World Health Assembly resolution and its terms of reference, 
        which were negotiated privately between the World Health Organization 
        (in this preamble referred to as ``WHO'') and Chinese authorities, 
        handed the Chinese government control over the joint-study process by 
        giving the Chinese government veto power over which international 
        experts were allowed to participate in the joint study and by agreeing 
        that most primary research would be carried out by Chinese teams without 
        ensuring broad access to primary data by international experts;
Whereas, as a result of these terms, the significant structural, procedural, and 
        analytical shortcomings of the joint study, and the severe restrictions 
        imposed by Chinese authorities, the WHO-convened joint study into the 
        origins of COVID-19 was prevented from providing a balanced 
        consideration of the multiple theories of the origin of COVID-19;
Whereas only 4 of the 313 pages of the joint-study team report and its annexes 
        addressed the possibility of a laboratory accident, and no thorough 
        examination of the lab incident hypothesis was carried out by the joint-
        study team;
Whereas some of the international experts on the joint-study team stated that 
        they lacked the means and resources to properly investigate the 
        research-related accident hypothesis, and they were neither able nor 
        meant to do such a full investigation but instead were acting as a 
        ``study review group'';
Whereas WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented on March 
        30, 2021, the day the joint-study report was released, ``I do not 
        believe that [the joint-study team's] assessment [of a possible lab 
        incident] was extensive enough. Further data and studies will be needed 
        to reach more robust conclusions . . . potentially with additional 
        missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.'';
Whereas the WHO Director-General further commented, ``As far as WHO is concerned 
        all hypotheses remain on the table . . . We have not yet found the 
        source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and 
        leave no stone unturned as we do . . . It is clear that we need more 
        research across a range of areas, which will entail further field 
        visits.'';
Whereas the March 30, 2021 Joint Statement on the WHO-convened COVID-19 Origins 
        Study by the United States and 13 other countries recognized the severe 
        shortcomings of the joint-study process and called for ``a transparent 
        and independent analysis and evaluation, free from interference and 
        undue influence.'';
Whereas, in spite of the devastation the COVID-19 pandemic has caused in the 
        United States and around the world, no process currently exists to 
        ensure a comprehensive investigation into the source of COVID-19;
Whereas such an investigation is essential for ensuring this type of crisis 
        never happens again for the benefit of all people, all nations, and 
        future generations: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) a comprehensive investigation to determine the origins 
        of COVID-19 must be conducted by the World Health Organization 
        immediately, with access to all relevant records, samples, and 
        personnel in China, and that such investigation must fully 
        explore all possible sources of the COVID-19 pandemic, 
        including exclusively ``natural'' zoonosis in the wild, human 
        contamination in an animal farm, and a research-related 
        accident;
            (2) the United States delegation to the World Health 
        Assembly should, in concert with allies and partners around the 
        world, work to ensure that an international scientific 
        investigation into the origins of COVID-19, with full access to 
        all relevant records, samples, and personnel in China, will be 
        authorized by the World Health Assembly and implemented with 
        extreme urgency; and
            (3) should such a full investigation not be authorized by 
        the 2021 World Health Assembly, then the United States 
        Government should immediately begin planning a comprehensive 
        and data-driven investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic 
        origins, in concert with willing partner governments and 
        experts around the world.
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