Business Meeting Transcript — Adoption of After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic (December 4, 2024)

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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 
1 
57–717 PDF 
COMMITTEE PRINT 
" 
118th Congress 
2nd Session 
2025 
BUSINESS MEETING 
OF THE 
SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS 
PANDEMIC 
OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND 
ACCOUNTABILITY 
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
SECOND SESSION 
DECEMBER 4, 2024 
Serial No. CP:118–15 
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
( 
Available on: govinfo.gov, 
oversight.house.gov or 
docs.house.gov 

(II) 
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY 
JAMES COMER, Kentucky, Chairman 
JIM JORDAN, Ohio 
MIKE TURNER, Ohio 
PAUL GOSAR, Arizona 
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina 
GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin 
MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas 
GARY PALMER, Alabama 
CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana 
PETE SESSIONS, Texas 
ANDY BIGGS, Arizona 
NANCY MACE, South Carolina 
JAKE LATURNER, Kansas 
PAT FALLON, Texas 
BYRON DONALDS, Florida 
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 
WILLIAM TIMMONS, South Carolina 
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee 
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, Georgia 
LISA MCCLAIN, Michigan 
LAUREN BOEBERT, Colorado 
RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina 
ANNA PAULINA LUNA, Florida 
NICK LANGWORTHY, New York 
ERIC BURLISON, Missouri 
MIKE WALTZ, Florida 
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland, Ranking Minority 
Member 
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 
Columbia 
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts 
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 
RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI, Illinois 
RO KHANNA, California 
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland 
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York 
KATIE PORTER, California 
CORI BUSH, Missouri 
SHONTEL BROWN, Ohio 
MELANIE STANSBURY, New Mexico 
ROBERT GARCIA, California 
MAXWELL FROST, Florida 
SUMMER LEE, Pennsylvania 
GREG CASAR, Texas 
JASMINE CROCKETT, Texas 
DAN GOLDMAN, New York 
JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida 
RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan 
AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts 
MARK MARIN, Staff Director 
MITCHELL BENZINE, Subcommittee Staff Director 
MARIE POLICASTRO, Clerk 
CONTACT NUMBER: 202-225-5074 
MILES LICHTMAN, Minority Staff Director 
CONTACT NUMBER: 202-225-5051 
SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC 
BRAD WENSTRUP, Ohio, Chairman 
NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York 
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa 
DEBBIE LESKO, Arizona 
MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas 
JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania 
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, Georgia 
RONNY JACKSON, Texas 
RICH MCCORMICK, Georgia 
RAUL RUIZ, California, Ranking Minority 
Member 
DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan 
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland 
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina 
ROBERT GARCIA, California 
AMI BERA, California 
JILL TOKUDA, Hawaii 

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INDEX OF DOCUMENTS 
* Statement, U.S. State Department, ‘‘Adherence to and Compliance with 
Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament Agreements and Com-
mitments’’; submitted by Rep. Wenstrup. 
* Article, Washington Post, ‘‘A flu virus risk worth taking’’; submitted 
by Rep. Wenstrup. 
* Article, Nature Medicine, ‘‘A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat 
coronaviruses’’; submitted by Rep. Wenstrup. 
* Article, PLOS.org, ‘‘Discovery of the rich gene pool of bat SARS-related 
coronaviruses’’; submitted by Rep. Wenstrup. 
* Article, Fauci, ‘‘Research on Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Influenza Virus’’; 
submitted by Rep. Wenstrup. 
* Statement, ‘‘After Action Review of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Recommenda-
tions’’; submitted by Rep. Wenstrup. 
* Letter, December 3, 2024, from Arnold & Porter to the Select Sub-
committee; submitted by Rep. Ruiz. 
* Letter, Correspondence with Mitchell Benzine re: Draft Report Dated 
12-1-2024; submitted by Rep. Ruiz. 
* Letter, December 3, 2024, from Counsel for the American Federation 
of Teachers to the Select Subcommittee; submitted by Rep. Ruiz. 
* Statement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Responses 
to Draft SSCP Report Dated November 29, 2024; submitted by Rep. Ruiz. 
Documents are available at: docs.house.gov. 


(1) 
BUSINESS MEETING 
Wednesday, December 4, 2024 
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY 
SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC 
Washington, D.C. 
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:29 a.m., in 
room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Brad Wenstrup 
(Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. 
Present: Wenstrup, Malliotakis, Miller-Meeks, Lesko, Cloud, 
Joyce, Greene, Jackson, McCormick, Ruiz, Dingell, Bera, and 
Tokuda. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. The Select Subcommittee will please come to 
order. A quorum is present. 
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at 
any time. 
Pursuant to House Rule XI, Clause 2, the Chair may postpone 
further proceedings today on the question of approving any meas-
ure or matter or adopting an amendment on which a recorded vote 
or the ayes and nays may be ordered. 
The Subcommittee will use the electronic system for recorded 
votes on amendments in passage of the report. Of course, should 
any technical issues arise, which I do not anticipate, we will imme-
diately transition to traditional roll-call votes. Any procedural or 
motion-related votes during today’s markup will be dispensed with 
by a traditional roll-call vote. 
Now, pursuant to notice, I call up a report titled, ‘‘After Action 
Review of the COVID–19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and a Path 
Forward.’’ 
The clerk will report the report, which has been distributed in 
advance. 
The CLERK. A report titled, ‘‘After Action Review of the COVID– 
19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Path Forward.’’ 
Dr. WENSTRUP. I ask unanimous consent that the report be con-
sidered as read and open for amendment at any point. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. The Chair recognizes himself to offer an amend-
ment in the nature of a substitute, and the clerk will report the 
amendment. 
The CLERK. An amendment in the nature of a substitute to the 
report, offered by Dr. Wenstrup. 

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Dr. WENSTRUP. Without objection, the amendment is considered 
read, and the substitute will be considered as original text for the 
purposes of further amendment. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for a state-
ment on the report. 
And before I get started, I would like to introduce some articles 
for the record that are exemplary of the Select Subcommittee’s 
finding that a lab leak is the most likely origin scenario, that the 
Chinese Communist Party was conducting dangerous research, and 
this type of dangerous research was notionally supported by the 
NIH. 
I ask unanimous consent for a 2005 statement from the State 
Department that says China has a bioweapons program. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. I ask unanimous consent for a 2015 article by Dr. 
Ralph Baric and Dr. Zhengli Shi of China, where they created a 
chimera of two bat-borne coronaviruses that gained function. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. I ask unanimous consent for a 2017 article by the 
Wuhan Institute of Virology researcher Dr. Ben Hu, where he cre-
ated multiple chimeras of coronaviruses under a BSL–2 condition 
at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. I ask unanimous consent for a 2011 article by Dr. 
Fauci and Dr. Collins that stated important information and in-
sights can come from generating a potentially dangerous virus in 
the laboratory. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. I ask unanimous consent for a 2012 paper writ-
ten by Dr. Fauci that stated that the benefits of gain-of-function re-
search outweigh the risks. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. But I want to thank all of those that voluntarily 
presented to the Committee to give honest and forthright testi-
mony. The report is the culmination of years of work and dedica-
tion. The Select Subcommittee held bad actors accountable, drove 
actual change in our public health agencies, and provided a road-
map for what to do and what not to do. I could go on and on about 
the findings of this report, but I think we will let the 500 pages 
and 2,000 footnotes speak for themselves. 
Today, we are also releasing all previously unreleased interview 
transcripts and supplementary materials. We as a Subcommittee 
are also grateful to whistleblowers that courageously came forward, 
and through long hours and dedication, provided important evi-
dence that we may not have found. Also, I want to thank the hard 
work of the professional staffers on this Subcommittee, and I feel 
that that is a must. Our staff was an extraordinary group of hard-
working patriots seeking to fight for—and this is my favorite Su-
perman motto—truth, justice, and the American way. 
I want to thank my staff: Staff Director, Mitch Benzine; Chief 
Counsel, Eric Osterhues; Senior Counsel, Jack Emmer, Counsel, 
Madeline Brewer; Professional Staff Member, Peter Spectre; Pro-
fessional Staff Member, Anna Blake Langley; Communications Di-

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rector, Liz Lyons; Press Secretary, Olivia Coleman; and Director of 
Operations and Member Services, Marie Policastro. 
In one scenario, years from now, people perhaps will have long 
forgotten what we did here, but if our work leads to a trustable 
system that is able to complete our goals of predicting, preparing, 
protecting us, and preventing the next pandemic, to me, that is re-
ward enough. May God be with us and our future generations of 
Americans. 
I now recognize the Ranking Member for a 5-minute statement 
on the amendment. 
Dr. RUIZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, I would like to begin 
by entering into the record a number of letters and materials the 
Select Subcommittee has received in recent days from parties to in-
vestigations this Congress, including from Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. 
Francis Collins, the Department of Health and Human Services, 
and the American Federation of Teachers. These submissions me-
morialize substantive objections these parties have to the represen-
tations made in the majority’s report, and I believe it is important 
that the record reflect their perspectives as well. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. Without objection. 
Dr. RUIZ. Thank you. Look, it goes without saying that both sides 
of the aisle have not always seen eye-to-eye in the Select Sub-
committee this Congress, and it is clear from our two final reports, 
that as the Select Subcommittee concludes, we are leaving with dif-
ferent impressions of what we did or did not find. At various 
points, we have debated these issues, and I think the record is 
clear on where we all stand. So, as we wrap up these 2 years, I 
want to say a few final things. 
First, I want to acknowledge the devastating loss of life that 
COVID–19 pandemic inflicted on families and communities across 
this country. More than 1 million Americans lost their lives too 
soon, and while we have overcome the darkest days of the COVID– 
19 pandemic, I recognize that as a Nation, we may never fully 
overcome this grief that all of us share, regardless of political 
party. It is always important to put humanity front and center and 
to reflect on the human loss and the human struggle that went 
through all of this pandemic. And oftentimes in politics and par-
tisan war, there is a sense of forgetfulness of what people have 
faced and what truly is important for them. 
Second, I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of doctors, 
nurses, first responders, healthcare workers, essential workers, sci-
entists, business leaders, policymakers, moms and dads, and people 
who came together to mount America’s response to the most signifi-
cant public health crisis we have faced in a generation. Often, at 
great personal expense and sacrifice, millions of Americans put 
their neighbors before themselves to help ensure that we could 
make it through this challenging period. It is this selflessness that 
represents the best of what America has to offer, and it is this self-
lessness that gives me hope that despite our differences, we can 
find a path forward to safeguarding and strengthening our Nation’s 
public health. 
Now, I won’t pretend that this process won’t be messy at times, 
but it is my sincere belief that we can come together as true profes-
sionals to work through the noise of politics and partisanship to do 

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the real work of preventing and preparing for future pandemics, 
closing pathways for novel viruses to emerge, be they in nature or 
in a lab, strengthening our schools so that they can be better pre-
pared to maintain safe in-person learning during future pandemics, 
fortifying infection prevention and control in nursing homes to keep 
our seniors safe, exploring how we can lay the groundwork for the 
rapid development of future vaccines and therapeutics for novel vi-
ruses when they inevitably emerge, and more. And in my opinion, 
we didn’t do enough of that this Congress, and I consider that a 
missed opportunity. But as I said at our final hearing last month, 
just because we haven’t yet come together to tackle these serious 
challenges doesn’t mean we can’t. And as I have said since the out-
set of the Congress, I am willing to work with anyone, Republican 
or Democrat, to move this work forward. 
So, as we conclude the Select Subcommittee today, it is my hope 
that we can set aside the politics and commit to the forward-look-
ing mission of meaningfully getting ahead of future viruses, be-
cause even after 2 years, I still believe that it is not too late to 
come together and do the work of saving future lives. And I truly 
appreciate all the Members being in the arena and debating and 
having good conversations of what we believe through practical sci-
entific principles, or whether it is philosophical or ideological ways. 
All of those were valid concerns, and we came out better for it as 
individuals. 
I want to thank the Members in the Democratic Committee who 
showed up consistently and gave it their all and were very well 
prepared for all of these meetings. I want to thank our wonderful 
staff under the leadership of Miles Lichtman, Joseph Romero, Dani 
Walker, and Alicia Yass, who have done excellent jobs while being 
here. And I also want to personally thank the Chairman, Chairman 
Wenstrup, for your service in the military, for your service in Con-
gress, and for carrying this messy process forward to the best of 
your ability. I respect that. I respect you, and I thank you for your 
years of friendship and of service, and I congratulate you on your 
retirement and wish you nothing but the best for you and your 
family. And with that, I yield back. Thank you. 
Dr. WENSTRUP. The question is now on the amendment in the 
nature of a substitute to the report. 
All those in favor, signify by saying aye. 
All those opposed, signify by saying nay. 
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it. The amendment in 
the nature of a substitute to the report is agreed to. 
The question is now on favorably reporting the report, as amend-
ed. 
All those in favor, signify by saying aye. 
All those opposed, signify by saying nay. 
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it. 
Pursuant to the vote, the Select Subcommittee hereby adopts this 
report titled, ‘‘After Action Review of the COVID–19 Pandemic: The 
Lessons Learned and a Path Forward.’’ 
Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. 
Finally, I want to ask unanimous consent for the recommenda-
tions that accompanied the report to be entered into the record. 
Without objection, so ordered. 

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Dr. WENSTRUP. Thank you all. Pursuant to House Rule XI, 
Clause 2, Select Subcommittee Members shall have the right to file 
with the clerk of the Select Subcommittee supplemental additional 
minority and dissenting views within 2 days. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
Additionally, the staff is authorized to make necessary technical 
and conforming changes to the report reported today, subject to the 
approval of the minority. 
Without objection, so ordered. 
There has been a lot of hard work from both sides of the aisle 
through this whole process. I am grateful to everyone for their ef-
forts, and I am pleased that we have come to this day and be able 
to put something forward for the American people to digest and 
move from. 
If there is no further business for the Select Subcommittee, with-
out objection and for the final time, the Select Subcommittee on the 
Coronavirus Pandemic stands adjourned. 
[Whereupon, at 10:42 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 
Æ

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