World Deserves To Know Act

Bill: 118-hr-229
Sponsor: Rep. Wittman, Robert J. [R-VA-1]
Introduced: 2023-01-09 in the House
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Asia
Cardiovascular and respiratory health
China
Congressional oversight
Contracts and agency
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
Education programs funding
Emergency medical services and trauma care
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Foreign property
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Health programs administration and funding
Higher education
Human rights
Infectious and parasitic diseases
Intelligence activities, surveillance, classified information
International organizations and cooperation
News media and reporting
Political parties and affiliation
Public contracts and procurement
Sanctions
Taiwan
Visas and passports
World health

Summary:
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: 

World Deserves To Know Act

 
This bill requires sanctions on certain members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and officials of Chinese health agencies. It also addresses related issues.
 
The President must impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions on any foreign person who is a CCP official and who is knowingly responsible for or complicit in (1) the disappearances of whistleblowers and citizen journalists in China relating to COVID-19, or (2) limiting free speech and academic freedom in China relating to COVID-19. 
 
The President must also impose such sanctions on specified individuals who have leadership positions in China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention and China's National Health Commission (NHC).
 
The authority to impose such sanctions shall end when the President certifies to Congress that an independent and unimpeded investigation into the potential origin of COVID-19 from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has taken place.
 
The bill also bars federal funds and certain federal student assistance from going to institutions of higher education that enter into a contract with any element or China-based affiliate of the NHC.
 
Federal funding to the National Academy of Sciences may not be used to enter into a contract with any element or China-based affiliate of the NHC.
 
The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress a review of all funds that the National Institutes of Health have made available to the NHC since FY2010. This report must also be publicly available.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2023-01-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: 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.
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: 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.
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: 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.
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: 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.
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2023-01-09
text: Introduced in House