A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz hailed bipartisan legislation being introduced in the House Friday that would offer new ways to punish China for its role in COVID-19.
As first reported by Fox News, the “Made in America Emergency Preparedness Act” would set up a bipartisan commission to probe the roots of the pandemic. And the “Never Again International Outbreak Prevention Act” would strip sovereign immunity from China and allow legal action in American courts.
Worth noting: These bills have been filed before. But that didn’t temper Waltz’s enthusiasm.
“Unleash the hounds. China needs to pay,” said the second-term Republican Congressman from Northeast Florida.
Waltz made the comments as part of a larger interview on the Fox Business Channel’s “Mornings with Maria.”
“It’s better late than never to get to the bottom of what happened with this coronavirus. I don’t know how tall the mountain of evidence has to become before the mainstream media, the scientific community, and the Biden administration will pay attention to the likelihood that this came out of a lab that was conducting research on how to manipulate coronaviruses, had one of the leading bat specialists in the world, and had documented incredibly lax safety standards,” Waltz told guest host Dagen McDowell.
“But I think what’s really going to get (the Chinese government’s) attention is this bill to strip them of sovereign immunity, where they’re immune from these types of suits,” Waltz said. “I’m not typically a fan of litigation and certainly not of trial lawyers, but you know what, when it comes to the Chinese government that released this on the world and covered it up using journalists and doctors trying to raise the alarm, unleash the hounds.”
The Congressman was not finished.
“China needs to pay. The Chinese Communist Party needs to pay for what they’ve done to us, what they’ve done to the world.”
When asked if the bills have legs, Waltz seemed to concede they might not. He suggested the legislation could put Democrats “in many ways in somewhat of a difficult position.”
The Congressman also expressed his continued objection to China hosting what he called the “genocide Olympics,” a reference to the country hosting the games in 2022, and vowed action against multinationals that support the Chinese Olympiad.
Waltz is introducing legislation to block companies that do business with China from contracting with the federal government.
“This is Coca Cola, Airbnb, Dow Chemical. If they have to take some pain on to their bottom line to force them to do the right thing, that’s the only thing I figure they’ll listen to, and this is bipartisan,” Waltz said.
