A bill to declassify COVID-19's origins clears the House and heads to Biden

The House has unanimously passed a bill to require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It cleared the chamber 419-0, with 204 House Democrats joining Republicans in support of the bill. A Senate version of the measure, which was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley, passed that chamber by unanimous consent earlier this month.

It's not clear whether or not President Biden would sign the bill.

"The American public deserves answers to every aspect of COVID 19 pandemic including how this virus was created, and specifically whether it was a natural occurrence or was the result of a lab related event," said Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, voicing his support of the bill.

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the House Committee on Intelligence, said ahead of the vote that he was supporting the bill because he thinks transparency on the issue would help silence false theories.

"I believe that the IC [intelligence community] should make as much public as they can," Himes said speaking on the House floor Friday. "Transparency is a critical element of our democracy. The factual grounding of the IC's analysis can be an antidote to the speculation, the rumor and the theories that grow in the absence of good information."

He also noted that the bill allows officials to redact information "to protect sources and methods." [Copyright 2023 NPR]