U.S. Sen. Johnson: Leads five-member letter requiring HHS compliance for COVID-19 origins and vaccine records

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, along with four GOP members of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra regarding the agency’s lack of compliance with 31 outstanding oversight letters related to COVID-19 origins and vaccine safety. The senators’ letter cited 5 U.S.C. § 2954, requiring HHS to produce the records requested in the 31 outstanding letters.

5 U.S.C. § 2954 states, “An Executive agency, on request of the Committee on [Oversight and Accountability] of the House of Representatives, or of any seven members thereof, or on request of the Committee on [Homeland Security and] Governmental Affairs of the Senate, or any five members thereof, shall submit any information requested of it relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee.”

This is the third, five-member, letter Sen. Johnson and his HSGAC GOP colleagues have sent to HHS on the COVID-19 origins and vaccines. The first being June 11, 2021 and the second March 31, 2023.

“It is well past time for HHS to provide complete transparency to Congress and the public,” the senators wrote. “To ensure HHS’s complete production, we expect you, Mr. Secretary, to follow the law and produce all information and records requested[.]”

The senators identified 11 priority letters they expect HHS and its sub-agencies to provide complete responses by July 12, 2024. The deadline for the other letters is July 19, 2024.

Sen. Johnson is joined on this letter by Senators James Lankford (R-Okla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.).

Read more about the senators’ June 25, 2024 letter in Fox News.

Full text of the letter can be found here.