WASHINGTON: A group of Democratic lawmakers in the US has asked the Congressional leadership to establish a bipartisan commission, modelled after the 9/11 panel, on the origins of the Covid virus in China.
The members of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said the commission should be modelled after the 9/11 commission.
“We write to you to express our strong support for the passage of legislation establishing a national commission on the Covid pandemic, modelled on the 2002 legislation creating the ‘National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States’, also known as the 9/11 commission,” the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition wrote on Tuesday.
The Covid commission would consist of 10 well-respected individuals, five appointed by Democrats and five by Republicans, and would be supported by a non-partisan staff of subject-matter experts, they proposed.
“The commission will examine how Covid emerged and spread in the US; evaluate the US’ preparedness for and response to the pandemic; and issue a report providing Congress, the President, and the American people with a full account of what took place,” the letter stated.
The origins of the Covid remain a widely debated topic, with some scientists and politicians maintaining that the possibility of a lab leak of the deadly virus exists.