{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-and-braun-demand-biden-implement-covid-origins-act/", "Hawley and Braun Demand Biden Implement COVID Origins Act", "2023-06-15", "2023", "2023-06", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) have sent a letter to President Biden demanding he implement the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, and declassify and release all information related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\n\u201cWe introduced the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 earlier this Congress to hold China accountable for its obfuscation during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d wrote the Senators. \u201cThe American people deserve to know how this pandemic began, and their democratically elected representatives have expressed their will unanimously.\u201d\n\nIn March, Senator Hawley\u2019s COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 was signed into law by President Biden. The legislation requires the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to any potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of the Covid pandemic.\n\nRead the full letter here or below.\n\nJune 14, 2023\n\nThe Honorable Joseph R. Biden\n\nPresident of the United States\n\nThe White House\n\n1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW\n\nWashington, D.C. 20500\n\nDear President Biden:\n\nWe write today to urge the swift and complete implementation of the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, which Congress unanimously passed, and which you signed into law on March 20, 2023.\n\nAs you know, the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to \u201cdeclassify any and all information\u201d relating to links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19 within 90 days of the law\u2019s enactment. That deadline, June 18, 2023, is fast approaching. Your Administration has not yet provided any indication of when the relevant material will be declassified.\n\nImportantly, the Act further requires the Director to transmit \u201call of the information\u201d to Congress, with one very narrow exception. The Act does not allow for redactions based on your Administration\u2019s view of \u201cnational security\u201d broadly defined, as you claimed in your signing statement. Rather, the Act only provides for much narrower redactions to protect intelligence sources and methods. Your Administration should comply with the law as written and not undermine clear congressional intent to provide as much transparency to the American people as possible.\n\nWe introduced the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 earlier this Congress to hold China accountable for its obfuscation during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. From the beginning of the pandemic, China appears to have taken every effort to hide COVID\u2019s origins from the world. The American people deserve to know how this pandemic began, and their democratically elected representatives have expressed their will unanimously. We urge you not to stand in their way.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:15:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-and-braun-demand-biden-implement-covid-origins-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6117207705974579, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}