The COVID-19 pandemic was a devastating time for our country. Many people died, others had their lives turned upside down, and the country became a staple for tyrannical government oppression and rampant misinformation. These fallouts also revealed the inadequacies of U.S. public health oversight concerning research involving dangerous viruses and pathogens. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wants to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
To do so, he devised the “Risky Research Review Act.” This legislation seeks to correct many of the wrongs the government made in the funding it granted in the days, weeks, months, and years leading up to the pandemic. Ensuring such failures never happen again is the impetus for his Risky Research Review Act. It provides a substantive alternative to the oppressive bureaucratic shortcomings associated with the government’s authorization of research funding.
The government has failed the people. As a result of these exigent circumstances, it became abundantly clear that legislative measures must become more efficient and transparent. This is especially true after discovering that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded grants through the Eco Health Alliance to support gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Additionally, these grants were distributed without proper oversight, which might have contributed to the emergence of the COVID-19 virus.
The lack of transparency arguably began with Democrats’s efforts during the pandemic. It continued throughout the Biden administration, including the introduction in May of the “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential.” Set to go into effect in May 2025, it is problematic and fundamentally flawed. Moreover, it is the latest example of the Executive Branch policing itself, which is the opposite of the kind of government most Americans should desire.
For example, the new policy contradicts our Constitution’s checks and balances principles. And, in a stunning example of learning absolutely nothing from previous mistakes, this new policy once again allows secrecy to flourish by limiting transparency and allowing research funders to control the decision-making and oversight of projects, creating a potentially huge conflict of interest, similar to what happened during the pandemic and the federal funding of gain-of-function research at the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The Executive Branch failed miserably and permitted the funding of dangerous research in China that may have caused a global pandemic. We cannot trust them to handle this responsibility again. As a result of unchecked power, the current White House policy has caused conflicts of interest pertaining to the approval process for research funding. To limit future systemic failures, an independent overview that diligently analyzes funding requests and prioritizes protecting the interests of American taxpayers would be beneficial.
Enter Sen. Rand Paul.
Conversely, Paul’s legislation protects people from a president’s bureaucratic overreach. Paul’s bill would create a “Life Sciences Research Security Board.” This would include “nine individuals who are citizens of the United States to serve as members of the Board for not more than two terms of 4 years each.” Additionally, this board would feature experts and non-governmental scientists who would thoroughly review and offer insights and opinions, resulting in greater objectivity on decisions regarding funding research on complex public health matters.
And while the Biden administration’s policies have been clouded in secrecy and forced compliance, Paul’s bill would focus on transparency and ensuring objectivity in assessing future funding and projects. Furthermore, an integral part of this process in the Risky Research Review Act is through annual reporting, as stipulated in the bill’s text, and making the report’s contents available online to the public.
“Oblige the board to submit an annual report to the appropriate congressional committees and publish it online, summarizing determinations, findings, and information about entities and sub-awardees involved in high-risk life sciences research,” read a release for Paul’s bill.
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Another substantial difference between Paul’s legislation and the Biden administration’s act of recycled executive branch aristocracy is that Paul’s act requires any applicant interested in government funding to ensure such research is properly categorized as “high-risk life sciences research,” with researchers verifying this. Additionally, all recipients are required to regularly disclose “subcontracts or subawards, with agencies required to submit these disclosures to the board.”
An old saying suggests those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it. Paul’s Risky Research Review Act is a remedy to the government’s inability to learn from the past. It provides practical and effective approaches for the future and offers provisions to try to limit the abuses of the health emergencies of yesteryear.