Ernst Proposes to Ban Federal Funding of EcoHealth Alliance, Gain-of-Function Research

Peter Daszak, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus, speaks to media upon arriving with other WHO members to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on February 3, 2021. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) vowed on Nov. 1 to introduce legislation requiring “a full investigation of all U.S. funding of gain-of-function research in China,” and a ban on federal funding to a New York foundation that works closely with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

“I want to see the Wuhan lab come clean, for EcoHealth Alliance to come clean, and if they don’t, then we'll have to go for a subpoena,” Ernst told reporters in an afternoon news conference.