Roger Marshall: “Reserving the right to object, USAID awarded a $200 million grant for a 10-year viral emergence early warning project…”

“Reserving the right to object, USAID awarded a $200 million grant for a 10-year viral emergence early warning project known as PREDICT. We have uncovered evidence of possible embezzlement, possible money laundering, and insider threats, as well as other concerns related to the PREDICT and other USAID grant awards. PREDICT was led by a consortium spearheaded by UC Davis and EcoHealth Alliance, which funneled taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct risky research on potential pandemic pathogens, including bat coronavirus research. USAID and NIH both awarded multimillion dollar grants to EcoHealth Alliance during the same 5-year period leading up to and immediately preceding the COVID-19 outbreak. EcoHealth is unable to produce to NIH proof of its research, such as lab notebooks and virus samples, so we are simply asking USAID for proof of the EcoHealth research they funded. We requested records from USAID that grant recipients are legally required to maintain. Our requests are, indeed, fact-based. At this point, we believe either the USAID staff is withholding the records from Congress or they have failed to access them through the UC Davis and EcoHealth Alliance. Either option is unacceptable. As such, I object to the unanimous consent motion but look forward to working with the chairman to address these issues. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.”