Rand Paul gets his wish as Senate committee approves pandemic research bill

A bipartisan panel of senators passed out of committee Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) bill, which would increase executive branch oversight of life science research with pandemic-causing abilities, a measure inspired by the research conducted in Wuhan, China, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed S 4667, the Risky Research Review Act, on Wednesday by a vote of 8 to 1 in what Paul, a ranking member of the committee, characterized as “a bipartisan compromise.”

“A million Americans died from COVID,” said Paul during a brief statement on the bill before the vote. “We’ll never know whether it came from nature or from a lab. Virtually every scientist now believes that it’s possible that it could have come from the lab. Some think it unlikely, but almost every scientist thinks that it’s a possibility.”

Although the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has remained hotly debated in the scientific community even nearly five years after the virus was discovered in late 2019, the pandemic has revived decades-old debate over what is colloquially known as gain-of-function pathogen research.

In layman's terms, gain-of-function research is any type of genetic manipulation of a pathogen that gives the disease either the capacity to infect a host in different ways or makes the disease spread more easily. 

Paul introduced the bill in July. If passed, it would create the Life Sciences Research Security Board, with nine members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This board would provide what Paul characterized as “an extra layer of protection” before approving projects that could be risky.

The bill would restrain agencies from providing federal funding for high-risk life sciences research without approval from the board, which would determine whether the project plans met the minimum required biosafety containment level as well as engineering and operational controls.

The controversy about oversight of gain-of-function research came to a head when Paul questioned Anthony Fauci, then-head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about research on bat coronaviruses conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and funded by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Fauci denied that the research fit the technical definition of gain-of-function, setting off a firestorm about the technical definition of the complex, niche matter and its effects on public health. 

However, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic's investigation into the WIV research projects uncovered a conflict of interest between Fauci’s senior advisor, David Morens, and one of the lead scientists on the bat coronavirus project, Peter Daszak, of the private research firm EcoHealth Alliance.

The House investigation revealed that Morens used his personal email address to communicate with Daszak and other scientific researchers about the NIAID grant project in Wuhan in order to avoid public records oversight. 

Both EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak are undergoing debarment proceedings filed by the Department of Health and Human Services for failing to report progress on dangerous experiments. The process will prevent them from receiving federal funding from any department or agency.

Paul outlined for the Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight Board was established in 2016 to review such research experiments, but it did not review any of the EcoHealth bat coronavirus projects at the WIV that received NIAID funding.

But the P3CO "didn’t have the power to proactively look at things. It could only take referrals," said Paul.

There has been strong support from both parties in both chambers of Congress for increasing oversight of dangerous research. 

The Homeland Security Committee in particular has held several hearings this session with leaders in the field of virology and other life science disciplines to discuss the prevalence and scientific benefits of gain-of-function research.

Critics of Paul’s bill have been concerned that the board will slow critical research needed for the prevention of naturally emerging disease outbreaks.

Paul highlighted, however, that no one on the committee wants to “slow down research in our country” and that the board will “get to the point where it only looks at maybe a dozen research proposals out of tens of thousands.” 

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), chairman, described the bill on Wednesday as “a good compromise.”

“It has been a long process, a lot of dialogue, but it’s good,” said Peters.

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“What I really appreciate is that this bill will be the first major piece of legislation that will try to lessen these risks for us,” said Paul.

The Senate is scheduled to break next week for an extended state work period in the lead up to the 2024 election. It is unclear when Paul’s bill will reach the full Senate floor for a vote.