BRAD R. WENSTRUP, D.P.M. |
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS |
RAUL RUIZ, M.D. |
June 1, 2023
The Honorable Xavier Becerra
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20201
Dear Secretary Becerra:
As you know, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is investigating the origins of COVID-19, including the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) role in obscuring the truth regarding the initial outbreak and whether any U.S. taxpayer dollars funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s (WIV) dangerous gain-of-function research.[1] The Select Subcommittee is now the only Committee in Congress with explicit jurisdiction to conduct this wide-ranging and important investigation.
While negotiating the upcoming testimony of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky, the Select Subcommittee—at the request of the Department—had been engaged in negotiations regarding the production of certain documents in exchange for the Department’s desired date of testimony for that hearing. The Select Subcommittee’s last offer was for two discrete documents that are responsive to previous requests—the Select Subcommittee was even willing to view one of these documents in camera.[2] The Department, however, refused without providing any explanation.
This stonewalling of legitimate Congressional oversight appears to be in line with the Department’s new stated position regarding Select Subcommittee requests. In case you were unaware, while negotiating Director Walensky’s upcoming testimony, the Department wrote that the negotiation was “counterproductive to the [S]elect [S]ubcommittee’s broader dealings with the Department.”[3] This is unacceptable and continued obstruction will not be tolerated.
- ↑ Letter from Hon. Brad Wenstrup, et. al., Chairman, Select Subcomm. on the Coronavirus Pandemic, H. Comm. on Oversight & Accountability, to Hon. Xavier Becerra, Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of Health * Human Servs. (Feb. 13, 2023).
- ↑ E-Mail from Select Subcomm. on the Coronavirus Pandemic Staff to U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs. Staff (May 24, 2023 11:18 a.m.).
- ↑ Letter from Hon. Melanie Anne Egorin, Ass’t Sec’y for Legislation, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Servs., to Hon. Brad Wenstrup, Chairman, Select Subcomm. on the Coronavirus Pandemic, H. Comm. on Oversight & Accountability (May 24, 2023).
