Ernst introduces bills requiring transparency for money spent in China – Washington Examiner
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) has introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at increasing clarity regarding taxpayer dollars spent on projects in China and other adversarial nations. The bills, known as the Tracking Receipts too Adversarial countries for Knowledge of Spending Act (TRACKS Act) and the Accountability in Foreign Animal Research Act (AFAR Act), seek to establish stricter standards for disclosing U.S. funding in these countries, particularly in high-risk medical research and perceived wasteful expenditures.
The TRACKS Act would create requirements for reporting on U.S. funding within adversarial countries, while the AFAR Act would ban the Department of Health and Human Services from allocating taxpayer funds for biomedical research that tests on vertebrate animals in facilities owned by such countries. Ernst emphasized that americans should not be using tax dollars to support risky research, specifically referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The release of these bills coincided with Tax Day, further underlining Ernst’s message that taxpayer money should not be used to fund foreign adversaries. She cited a recent Government Accountability Office audit indicating that the extent of U.S.funding for China is not fully known and linked her efforts to growing skepticism toward medical research practices in China, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ernst’s proposals also draw attention to other questionable expenditures in China funded by the U.S. government, such as diversity training and various roadshows. Her efforts to cut perceived government waste align with broader criticisms of the Biden governance’s spending practices.
Ernst introduces bills to require transparency for taxpayer dollars used for projects in China
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced two bills requiring transparency for taxpayer dollars spent on projects in China and other adversarial countries.
On Tuesday, Ernst introduced the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending Act and the Accountability in Foreign Animal Research Act. The bills target high-risk medical research and spending perceived as wasteful.
The TRACKS Act would establish standards for disclosing all data regarding U.S. funding for projects in adversarial countries.
The AFAR Act would ban the Department of Health and Human Services from sending taxpayer funds “to directly or indirectly conduct biomedical research or experimentation that involves testing on vertebrate animals in any facility” owned by adversarial countries.
The release of the bills was timed to coincide with Tax Day.
“Americans should never pay taxes to China, not 1 cent,” Ernst said. “Especially not to fund risky research in sketchy labs like the Wuhan Institute of Virology. I am exposing every cent sent overseas and ending the madness to ensure taxpayers no longer foot the bill for crazy pseudoscience overseas.”
Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President of White Coat Waste, praised the bill.
“As White Coat Waste’s investigations exposed, Fauci and [the U.S. Agency of International Development’s] secretive spending on gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan animal lab probably infected Patient Zero and prompted a pandemic that killed millions. Yet, the Pentagon, [the National Institute of Health], and other agencies continue to recklessly ship tax dollars to unaccountable labs in China. We applaud Sen. Joni Ernst for reintroducing the TRACKS Act because taxpayers have a right to know if their money is being funneled to foreign adversaries, especially for cruel and dangerous animal experiments,” he said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Ernst’s office cited an April 2023 audit from the Government Accountability Office, which found that the true extent of U.S. funding for China was unknown, especially through NIH. U.S. skepticism toward medical research in China has increased under the Trump administration, which believes some risky research practices, such as gain of function, may have been responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
While China is the primary focus of the bills, they also target money spent on Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
HOW TO DECOUPLE FROM CHINA SENSIBLY
Aside from medical research, Ernst highlighted other spending in China under the Biden administration that the investigation viewed as wasteful. The United States spent over $100,000 on diversity, equity, and inclusion training in China and $24,000 on a bakery ingredients roadshow in the country, according to data from USAspending.gov.
Ernst has found an ally in the Trump administration in her attempts to cut government waste. She co-founded the Department of Government Efficiency Caucus to coordinate with Elon Musk’s DOGE to cut perceived government waste more effectively. Last month, she asked Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vought to implement her previous bills, accusing the Biden administration of ignoring them.
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