BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) in reintroducing a resolution calling for an international investigation into the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) cover-up of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Specifically, this resolution:

  • condemns the decision by the CCP to hide the emergence and spread of COVID–19 within its borders during the initial weeks of the pandemic;
  • assesses that the decision by the CCP to hide the emergence and spread of COVID–19 during that period almost certainly contributed to the rapid spread of that disease throughout the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the rest of the world;
  • finds that the CCP should be held accountable for the impact of its decision to hide the emergence and spread of COVID–19 on the lives and livelihoods of the people of the United States and other nations;
  • calls for an international investigation led by public health officials from the United States and other affected nations and free from any restrictions by the CCP to determine how the handling by the Government of the People’s Republic of China of the COVID–19 outbreak prior to March 11, 2020, contributed to the emergence of the COVID–19 global pandemic; and
  • calls on the international community—
    • to quantify the harm caused by the handling of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to the health and economic well-being of the people of the United States and other nations; and
    • to design a mechanism for delivering compensation from the Government of the People’s Republic of China to all affected nations for the harm caused by its decision to hide the emergence and spread of COVID–19 during the initial weeks of the pandemic.

The WHO has allowed the CCP to dictate the terms of the investigation and stated their intention is “not about finding China guilty.” Earlier this month Senator Cramer criticized President Joe Biden reversing the United States' withdrawal from the WHO.

Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

Learn more here.