OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security Relating to ``Procedures for Credible Fear Screening and Consideration of Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and Cat Protection Claims By Asylum Officers''

Floor Speech

Date: May 26, 2022
Location: Washington, DC


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Mr. MARSHALL. This nominee received a tie vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, meaning that he failed to be reported favorably to the floor. This tie vote indicates that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republicans have significant concerns with this nominee; therefore, he should be discharged per the process laid out in the Senate power-sharing agreement for this Congress, not passed by unanimous consent.

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President.

We have uncovered evidence of possible embezzlement, possible money laundering, and insider threats, as well as other concerns related to the PREDICT and other USAID grant awards.

PREDICT was led by a consortium spearheaded by UC Davis and EcoHealth Alliance, which funneled taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct risky research on potential pandemic pathogens, including bat coronavirus research.

USAID and NIH both awarded multimillion dollar grants to EcoHealth Alliance during the same 5-year period leading up to and immediately preceding the COVID-19 outbreak.

EcoHealth is unable to produce to NIH proof of its research, such as lab notebooks and virus samples, so we are simply asking USAID for proof of the EcoHealth research they funded. We requested records from USAID that grant recipients are legally required to maintain. Our requests are, indeed, fact-based.

At this point, we believe either the USAID staff is withholding the records from Congress or they have failed to access them through the UC Davis and EcoHealth Alliance. Either option is unacceptable. As such, I object to the unanimous consent motion but look forward to working with the chairman to address these issues.

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President.

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Mr. MARSHALL. Unfortunately, the documents were not what we asked for. They are incomplete. They don't give us what we are looking for. But we would welcome the opportunity to sit down with the chairman and try to address--

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Mr. MARSHALL. Not that I am aware of.

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