By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https:// pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-house-gop-members-hold-news-briefing-on-covid-delta-variant Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: House GOP say Democrats are ‘stonewalling’ COVID-19 origins probe Politics Jul 22, 2021 9:07 AM EDT House Republicans are calling for hearings into the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Watch their news briefing in the player above. U.S. intelligence agencies are currently exploring theories that an accidental leak from that lab could have led to the global pandemic. Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, angrily confronted Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul in testimony on Capitol Hill, rejecting Paul’s insinuation that the U.S. helped fund research at a Chinese lab that could have sparked the COVID-19 outbreak. READ MORE:Why the delta variant is causing an explosion of cases among the unvaccinated Paul suggested that Fauci had lied before Congress when in May he denied that the National Institutes of Health funded so-called “gain of function” research – the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world – at a Wuhan virology lab. Scalise, the House Minority Whip, also suggested Thursday that hearings should be held to find out if the US helped fund any “gain of function” research. The search for where the virus came from has become a diplomatic issue that has fueled China’s deteriorating relations with the U.S. and many American allies. The U.S. and others say that China has not been transparent about what happened in the early days of the pandemic. China accuses critics of seeking to blame it for the pandemic and politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists. By — Associated Press Associated Press
House Republicans are calling for hearings into the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Watch their news briefing in the player above. U.S. intelligence agencies are currently exploring theories that an accidental leak from that lab could have led to the global pandemic. Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, angrily confronted Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul in testimony on Capitol Hill, rejecting Paul’s insinuation that the U.S. helped fund research at a Chinese lab that could have sparked the COVID-19 outbreak. READ MORE:Why the delta variant is causing an explosion of cases among the unvaccinated Paul suggested that Fauci had lied before Congress when in May he denied that the National Institutes of Health funded so-called “gain of function” research – the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world – at a Wuhan virology lab. Scalise, the House Minority Whip, also suggested Thursday that hearings should be held to find out if the US helped fund any “gain of function” research. The search for where the virus came from has become a diplomatic issue that has fueled China’s deteriorating relations with the U.S. and many American allies. The U.S. and others say that China has not been transparent about what happened in the early days of the pandemic. China accuses critics of seeking to blame it for the pandemic and politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists.