House Democrats Block Bipartisan Bill Declassifying COVID-19 Origins

The P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China's central Hubei Province, on May 13, 2020. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images

House Democrats blocked consideration of legislation that would require the U.S. Director of National Intelligence to declassify information and data related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and that namely targeted what role the Wuhan Institute of Virology played in the outbreak.

In May, the Senate Republican-backed COVID-19 Origin Act was passed unanimously in the Senate. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) brought the Senate bill to the House floor on Tuesday night before Democrats voted it down.