Ernst Efforts Defunded China’s Wuhan Institute, Now EcoHealth Alliance

WASHINGTON – After she led the charge to permanently debar the Wuhan Institute of Virology and defund EcoHealth Alliance from receiving U.S. taxpayer dollars, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) celebrated the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally defunding EcoHealth and promised to cut off any taxpayer dollars used for research of pandemic potential.

An Ernst-requested investigation exposed how EcoHealth sent over $1 million U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for risky experiments on bat coronaviruses. She also called for an HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation into EcoHealth that found the organization violated numerous federal grant requirements and conditions.

Watch her full remarks here.

Background:

Ernst secured the ongoing audit of EcoHealth’s risky research around the world paid for by the Pentagon that is now being conducted by the Department of Defense (DoD) OIG.

In 2021, Ernst requested the HHS OIG investigation of EcoHealth’s experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which found the group’s work with the Wuhan Institute resulted in enhanced coronaviruses and did not comply with federal reporting requirements. The findings of this report are cited in the suspension and proposed debarment issued by HHS.

In 2022, Ernst called on NIH and NSF to stop giving any more handouts to the group and introduced legislation that would put an end to taxpayer subsidies for EcoHealth’s batty studies.

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