{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-paul-rep-comer-send-letter-director-nih-requesting-information-removal-gain-function-nih/", "Dr. Paul, Rep. Comer Send Letter to Director of the NIH Requesting Information on the Removal of \u201cGain-of-Function\u201d from the NIH Website", "2021-11-01", "2021", "2021-11", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nNovember 1, 2021\n\nContact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and U.S. Representative James Comer (R-KY-1) sent a letter to Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requesting information on an update made to the NIH website on October 20, 2021. The update removed a section on the website titled \u201cGain-of-Function Research,\u201d which defined gain-of-function research as \u201ca type of research that modifies a biological agent so that it confers new or enhanced activity to that agent.\u201d This website change followed a October 20th letter from the NIH to Rep. James Comer acknowledging that NIH funds were sub-awarded to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study bat coronaviruses.\n\nYou can read the full letter, HERE or below.\n\nDear Dr. Collins:\n\nWe write to request the following information about an update made to the website of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on or about October 20, 2021.\n\nDo you acknowledge that the page previously titled \u201cGain-of-Function Research Involving Potential Pandemic Pathogens\u201d (archived here: https://web.archive.org/web/20211019065407/https://www.nih.gov/news-events/gain-function-research-involving-potential-pandemic-pathogens) was changed on or about October 20, 2021 to remove the phrase \u201cGain-of-Function\u201d from the page heading?\n\nDo you acknowledge that the information provided on the web page identified above was altered, and that among the alterations was the removal of a section with the heading \u201cGain-of-Function Research,\u201d which defined gain-of-function research as \u201ca type of research that modifies a biological agent so that it confers new or enhanced activity to that agent\u201d?\n\nWas the decision to remove the section of the NIH website entitled \u201cGain-of-Function Research\u201d on or about October 20, 2021, motivated by, or in any way related to, the October 20, 2021 letter from NIH to Rep. James Comer in which Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak acknowledged that NIH funds were sub-awarded to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study bat coronaviruses?\n\nPlease provide the name(s) and title(s) of each official within the NIH or elsewhere in the U.S. government who authorized the changes to the NIH website noted above.\n\nPlease provide any and all internal communications regarding the changes noted above to the NIH website on or about October 20, 2021.\n\nPlease provide a detailed explanation of the reason or reasons for making the changes noted above to the NIH website on or about October 20, 2021.\n\nWe look forward to your timely response.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:30:49Z"]], "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.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-paul-rep-comer-send-letter-director-nih-requesting-information-removal-gain-function-nih/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.114091068506241, "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"}