World Deserves To Know Act

Bill: 118-hr-229
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wittman, Robert J. [R-VA-1]
Introduced: 2023-01-09
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
Latest action: action_date: 2023-01-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-01-09
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>World Deserves To Know Act</strong></p> <p>This bill requires sanctions on certain members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and officials of Chinese health agencies. It also addresses related issues.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>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).</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 229 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 9, 2023 Mr. Wittman introduced the following bill; which was 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 A BILL To impose sanctions with respect to members of the Chinese Communist Party and heads of Chinese health agencies relating to the COVID–19 pandemic, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the World Deserves To Know Act . 2. Imposition of sanctions with respect to certain members of the Chinese Communist Party and heads of Chinese health agencies relating to the COVID–19 pandemic (a) Chinese Communist Party members (1) In general The President shall impose the sanctions described in section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) with respect to any foreign person who is an official of the Chinese Communist Party that the President determines is knowingly responsible for, complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in— (A) the disappearances of whistleblowers and citizen journalists in the People’s Republic of China relating to the COVID–19 pandemic; or (B) the establishment of limits on freedom of speech and academic freedom in the People’s Republic of China relating to the COVID–19 pandemic. (2) Coordination The President shall coordinate with the intelligence community for purposes of identifying foreign persons under this subsection. (b) Chinese health agencies heads The President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to the following foreign persons: (1) Gao Fu, also known as George Fu Gao, the Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the People’s Republic of China. (2) Ma Xiaowei, Minister of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. (c) Sanctions described The sanctions described in this subsection with respect to a foreign person are the following: (1) Blocking of property The President shall exercise all of the powers granted to the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. ) (except that the requirements of section 202 of such Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 ) shall not apply) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in property and interests in property of the person if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or come within the possession or control of a United States person. (2) Inadmissibility to the United States and revocation of visa or other documentation (A) Ineligibility for visa, admission, or parole The foreign person is— (i) inadmissible to the United States; (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq. ). (B) Current visa revoked The visa or other entry documentation of the foreign person shall be revoked, regardless of when such visa or other entry documentation is or was issued. A revocation under this subparagraph shall take effect immediately and automatically cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the person’s possession. (d) Exceptions (1) To comply with United Nations Headquarters Agreement Sanctions under subsection (c)(2) shall not apply with respect to a foreign person described in subsection (b) if admitting or paroling the foreign person into the United States is necessary to permit the United States to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or other applicable international obligations. (2) To carry out or assist law enforcement activities Sanctions under this section shall not apply to a foreign person, if admitting or paroling the foreign person into the United States is necessary to carry out or assist law enforcement activity in the United States. (e) Implementation; penalties (1) Implementation The President may exercise all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this section and shall issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are necessary to carry out this section. (2) Penalties Any person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of this section or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out paragraph (1) shall be subject to the penalties provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1705 ) to the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that section. (f) Waiver The President may waive the application of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign person under this section if the President— (1) determines that a waiver is in the national interest of the United States; and (2) not later than the date on which such waiver will take effect, submits to the appropriate congressional committees a notice of and justification for such waiver. (g) Termination of sanctions with respect to a foreign person (1) In general The President may terminate the application of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign person under this section if the President makes a determination that— (A) credible information exists that the person did not engage in the activity for which the sanctions were imposed; and (B) the person has— (i) credibly demonstrated a significant change in behavior; and (ii) been subject to an appropriate consequence for the activity for which the sanctions were imposed. (2) Notification Not later than 15 days before the date on which the application of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign person is terminated under paragraph (1), the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that— (A) describes the evidence and justification for the necessity of the termination; and (B) explains how the termination of the application of sanctions is in the national security interests of the United States. (h) Termination of authority To impose sanctions The authority to impose sanctions under this section with respect to a foreign person described in subsection (b) shall terminate on the date on which the President certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that an independent, unimpeded investigation into the potential origin of COVID–19 from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has taken place. (i) Exception relating to importation of goods (1) In general The authorities and requirements to impose sanctions under this section shall not include the authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods. (2) Good defined In this subsection, the term good means any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data. 3. Prohibition on new contracts (a) Institutions of higher education (1) In general No Federal funds may be made available to an institution of higher education (as defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1002 )) that enters into a contract with— (A) any element or department of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; (B) any agency or office that reports to the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; or (C) any Chinese-based entity affiliated with the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. (2) Program participation agreements under the Higher Education Act of 1965 Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1094(a) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (30) The institution will not enter into a contract with— (A) any element or department of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; (B) any agency or office that reports to the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; or (C) any Chinese-based entity affiliated with the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. . (b) National Academy of Sciences No Federal funds made available to the National Academy of Sciences may be used to enter into a contract with— (1) any element or department of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; (2) any agency or office that reports to the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; or (3) any Chinese-based entity affiliated with the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. 4. Review of NIH funding Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall— (1) conduct a full review of all funds made available by the National Institutes of Health, directly or indirectly, during or after fiscal year 2010, to— (A) the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; (B) any agency or office that reports to the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; or (C) any Chinese-based entity that is affiliated with the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; (2) make publicly available, and submit to the Congress, a report on the results of such review; and (3) in such report, clearly identify any funds described in paragraph (1) that were used for gain of function research. 5. Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that given Taiwan’s early alerting to the global health community on the dangers of COVID–19 while senior officials in the Chinese Communist Party downplayed COVID–19 Taiwan should be granted observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA). 6. Definitions In this Act: (1) Admitted; alien The terms admitted and alien have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1001 ). (2) Appropriate congressional committees The term appropriate congressional committees means— (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate. (3) Foreign person The term foreign person means a person that is not a United States person. (4) Intelligence community The term intelligence community has the meaning given that term in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3003(4) ). (5) Knowingly The term knowingly means, with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, that a person has actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result. (6) Person The term person means an individual or entity. (7) United States person The term United States person means— (A) a United States citizen, an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States, or any other individual subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; (B) an entity organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such entity; or (C) any person in the United States.