United States Senators Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Rand Paul, James Lankford, Rick Scott & Josh Hawley Letter to The Honorable Gary Peters, Chairman, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (July 29, 2021): ‘These agencies’ apparent contempt for legitimate congressional oversight and the law is unacceptable. This administration cannot be allowed to ignore congressional oversight nor determine what information is fit for Congress’ review. We must ensure that all federal agencies are fully transparent and responsive to this Committee’s requests, particularly when the members invoke 5 U.S.C. § 2954. We call on you to stand up for this Committee’s and Congress’ constitutional and statutory authority and respectfully request that you initiate proceedings to serve subpoenas to HHS, CDC, and NIH to compel compliance with our lawful demands stated in our May and June letters.’

 

United States Senate

WASHINGTON, DC 20510

July 29, 2021

The Honorable Gary Peters
Chairman
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Ron Johnson
Ranking Member
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Rand Paul
U.S. Senator

James Lankford
U.S. Senator

Rick Scott
U.S. Senator

Josh Hawley
U.S. Senator


We have sent two letters to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invoking 5 U.S.C. § 2954. This law requires federal agencies to produce documents when five members of this Committee request the information.1 To date, despite their statutory obligations to do so, these agencies have refused to comply with our requests. We, therefore, ask that you hold this administration accountable and show your support for Congress’ right to information by initiating proceedings to serve subpoenas to compel compliance with our lawful demands.



In this public FOIA document, HHS redacted an entire paragraph in Daszak’s email claiming that it contains records related to an open law enforcement investigation.7

However, in the documents HHS produced to us, this paragraph was unredacted, exposing the information HHS previously shielded from the American people. The paragraph stated:

It’s been a very hard few months as these conspiracy theorists have gradually become politicized and hardened in their stance. Especially because the work we’ve been doing in collaboration with Chinese virologists has given us incredible insight into the risks that these viruses represent, so that we can directly help protect our nation from bat-origin coronaviruses. We’re fighting to keep the communications open with our Chinese colleagues, so that we can better address future pandemics like COVID-19



These agencies’ apparent contempt for legitimate congressional oversight and the law is unacceptable. This administration cannot be allowed to ignore congressional oversight nor determine what information is fit for Congress’ review. We must ensure that all federal agencies are fully transparent and responsive to this Committee’s requests, particularly when the members invoke 5 U.S.C. § 2954. We call on you to stand up for this Committee’s and Congress’ constitutional and statutory authority and respectfully request that you initiate proceedings to serve subpoenas to HHS, CDC, and NIH to compel compliance with our lawful demands stated in our May and June letters.


REFERENCE:
BREAKING: GOP Senators Reveal Contents of Redacted Fauci Letter – HHS Hid His Collaboration with Dr. Daszak and Wuhan Lab
By Jim Hoft
Published July 30, 2021