The clock is ticking for Biden on COVID-19 origins declassification bill

PResident Joe Biden There is less than a week for you to decide whether or not to sign a declassifying bill. Origins of COVID-19 Intelligence that was passed by veto-proof majorities

Both chambers Congress unanimously approved legislation that would make it possible for the Biden administration. All information should be declassified The federal agencies have split on whether the virus originated in nature or from a laboratory leak.

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“Transparency is a cornerstone of our democracy,” During debate, Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat in the intelligence committee, said. “Because without transparency, the American people can’t make the sounds that they need to make responsibly as citizens of a democracy.”

The House approved the COVID OriginsAct The Senate voted unanimously and by 419 votes to 0. White House It has been noncommittal.

“We will continue to use every tool to figure out what happened here while also protecting classified information,” Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “We’re going to take a look at the bill. I just don’t have anything to share on how we’re going to move forward at this time.”

Biden stated that he had not. “made that decision yet” When asked if the bill would be signed by him, The White House could have released the information by itself, but it has not done so.

The House voted Last FridayPresidents have 10 days to sign or veto the agreement, which expires on Sunday, March 10. Biden would have to sign or veto the bill by Wednesday, March 22.

If the president vetoes, a two thirds majority of both chambers is required to override. This could happen at any time during the 118th Congress.

The Congressional Research Service reports that only 106 of the 1,484 presidential vetoes, from 1789 to 2004, were overridden. Biden could not, however, vetoes would be overridden by a unanimous vote.

Dr. Steven Quay hopes that this information is available.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Quay favors the laboratory leak theory, “I’d like to see records from the fall of 2019 and more communications. The concept that the virus came from a market requires that it started in December. Any evidence that it’s anywhere else in the fall before that is evidence against it beginning in a market in December.”

If the bill is signed into law, it would require that within 90 days of its signing, the bill be declassified “any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease,” This includes whether researchers became ill.

This legislation is a marked departure from the days when the laboratory leak hypothesis was dismissed by the intelligence community as a conspiracy theory. Both theories have been supported by the 18 intelligence agencies of the United States. However, there has been a lot of debate between the scientific and intelligence communities.

Despite the overwhelming support of the House floor, Democrats as well as Republicans engaged in lengthy debates before casting their ballots. In their speeches, several Republicans sought to blame the Chinese government as well as some U.S. officials (e.g. Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“Big government bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci abused their positions of power to disguise and distort the facts and a further tyrannical approach to our country,” August Pfluger, a Republican from Texas, spoke out about the former director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “Fauci knew as early as March of 2020 that coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.”

Others, however, cautioned.

“We shouldn’t be so certain … that we’re willing to impugn the character and motives of other Americans, especially if those Americans are in positions of responsibility that need to be trusted in the next pandemic,” Himes. “We just don’t know. And we’re entitled to speculate, we’re entitled to have a theory, but I would just urge caution about impugning people’s motives, impugning their character, based on those theories.”

Patrick Eddington, senior Cato Institute fellow, believes there is a possibility that Biden might veto the bill. Then, it would be up to the GOP leadership whether they can convince enough Democrats override.

Biden might be concerned that human sources could have been compromised, such as if a source from the Chinese government is identified in intelligence. All information is subject to redaction.

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Eddington believes that it is smart to let the bill go.

“Biden would be wise to just sign the bill and direct [Director of National Intelligence Avril] Haines to comply,” He stated. “Asking for Democrats in House swing districts to fall on their sword over this issue would be bad political strategy, to say the least.”