House passes bill to declassify COVID-19 origin report

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday unanimously passed its version of a Senate-approved bill to force the White House to declassify intelligence reports about the origins of COVID-19 and its ties to a Chinese lab.

The 419-0 vote sends the bill to President Biden’s desk completely unopposed in Congress after the Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent last week.

So far, the White House has not indicated whether Biden will veto the legislation, meaning Americans may soon know what intelligence officials have learned about the pandemic’s source.

The bill requires Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify “any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology” and COVID-19, as well as “make available to the public as much information as possible” regarding the virus’ origin.

The information should help Americans understand “why the FBI director has indicated that a COVID-19 lab leak is not just a possibility, but approaches the idea that is likely,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said during a hearing on Tuesday.

“[The information provides] a unique insight as to what was happening at biosafety level laboratory in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and early 2020,” Turner added. “The laboratory and who was working there might be the key to unraveling the truth.”

The overwhelming support in Congress for releasing the information comes days after reports emerged that the Energy Department had assessed with “low confidence” that the virus likely leaked from a Chinese lab.

The report was a major breakthrough after many government officials – including former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci – insisted that evidence pointed to the global pandemic originating with bats in a wet market, also in Wuhan.

While the intelligence community has not definitively determined the virus’ origin, Rep. Jim Himes said this week the release of the information should allow “the American people can consider the best available information we have, as opposed to marinating and conjecture and speculation and conspiracy theories.”