House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer expressed support for President Donald Trump’s recent executive order prohibiting federal funding for gain-of-function research. The move comes after a two-year investigation by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which highlighted concerns about taxpayer dollars being used for such research globally, including at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Chairman Comer stated, “A two-year investigation by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic exposed how the Biden Administration and Dr. Anthony Fauci allowed taxpayer dollars to fund risky and secretive gain-of-function research around the world, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.” He emphasized that Americans should be concerned about their taxes supporting potentially hazardous scientific endeavors. “I applaud President Trump for banning taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research government-wide,” he added.
The investigation into COVID-19’s origins began in 2023 to determine if U.S. funds supported gain-of-function studies at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Findings revealed that EcoHealth Alliance Inc., which received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2014, violated grant terms by failing to comply with oversight requests and delaying required reports.
In response to these findings, in January 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminated all funding to EcoHealth Alliance and debarred its former president, Dr. Peter Daszak, for five years.
