The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday night to pass a bill that would require the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to the origins of COVID-19.
The bill, known as the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, specifically aims to investigate the possibility that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Republican Sens. Mike Braun and Josh Hawley reintroduced the bill on Monday after a classified intelligence report was provided to the White House and certain members of Congress by the Department of Energy, which concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak. The FBI had previously come to a similar conclusion.
Announcing the bill’s passage on Twitter and Fox News Wednesday night, Hawley cited the importance of transparency and accountability in allowing to public to understand the origins of the pandemic.
“Tonight the Senate UNANIMOUSLY passed my bill to declassify all the intelligence the government has on #covid origins. Let the people see the truth!” Hawley wrote on Twitter.
In further comments to Fox News, Hawley noted that the bill needs to pass in the House “and then we can get this thing done.”
The bill would require Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify the information in the U.S. government’s possession on the most likely origins of COVID-19.
“Listen, the American people—it’s past time—let’s show them what the government has. Let everybody see for themselves. Let everybody read it,” he told Fox News in further comments after the vote.
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