Ernst Continues Push to ‘Clip’ Fauci’s Funding of Dangerous Bat Research

WASHINGTON – Following new reports tying Dr. Anthony Fauci and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to EcoHealth Alliance, a group which funneled taxpayer money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to conduct dangerous experiments on bats and coronaviruses, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and her colleagues are demanding the agencies end grant funding to EcoHealth.

“Because EcoHealth broke federal laws, withheld evidence, and conducted dangerous research in unsafe conditions, this group should never be trusted to put its hands on taxpayer dollars or bats ever again,” said Ernst. “Let’s defund EcoHealth and launch a real scientific investigation to find out once and for all what was really happening in Wuhan, China so the same mistakes are never repeated again.”

The NSF recently awarded an additional $1 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance for Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention, and a second grant of over $263,800 is in the works for the organization. The NIH also announced a five-year grant beginning with an award of $653,392 to conduct more studies on coronaviruses from bats. This funding continues despite EcoHealth’s repeated refusals to divulge information about what was really going on in Wuhan, China.

Ernst led letters to the NIH and NSF alongside fellow Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Representatives Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) and Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) demanding the agencies end their grant relationship with EcoHealth. Read the letter to NIH here. Read the letter to NSF here.

BACKGROUND:

• In May 2020, Ernst and White Coat Waste revealed that $600,000 in NIH funding was awarded to WIV for dangerous and secretive coronavirus experiments, despite repeated warnings from State Department officials who had visited the lab and stated it was dangerous due to lax safety practices and posed a serious public health threat.
• In March 2021, Ernst called on the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services to increase cost transparency from the agency, pointing to NIH providing nearly $15 million to WIV funneled through EcoHealth.
• In November 2021, Ernst introduced the FAUCI Act, which calls for a full accounting of how and where U.S. tax dollars are being spent, a complete ban on funding of “gain-of-function” research in Communist China, and restrictions on government officials who intentionally mislead Congress.
• Last month, Ernst introduced bicameral legislation to prohibit federal funding to EcoHealth Alliance.

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