A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Joni Ernst will introduce legislation that would bar the spending of U.S. tax dollars at “wet markets” in China.
The Iowa Republican shared with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday her plans to propose the bill alongside GOP Sen. Mike Braun and Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Joe Manchin when the Senate is back in session after it was reported that U.S. taxpayer money went to the controversial Chinese markets. The earliest known cases of the coronavirus have been traced back to a Wuhan market in China’s Hubei province.
“As Iowans, and all Americans, continue to battle COVID-19, we need to do all we can to ensure something like this never happens again. That includes preventing any more American tax dollars from going to unregulated ‘wet markets’ in China,” she said.
“While previous administrations should have been working to shut down these dangerous, disease-prone markets, they were subsidizing them with taxpayer money. That’s why I’m working across the aisle to prevent any more American tax dollars from going to China’s unregulated ‘supermarkets of sickness,'” she continued. “Whether it’s the lab in Wuhan or these repulsive wet markets, Iowans shouldn’t be footing the bill for either.”
White Coat Waste Project, a taxpayer watchdog group, issued a report finding that as recently as 2015, the Department of Agriculture used U.S. tax dollars to buy live animals, such as cats and dogs, at Chinese meat markets similar to the one in Wuhan. The report said the animals were slaughtered and brought back to the United States for experiments in which their remains were fed to other animals. While the total amount spent at the markets is unclear, the group said these Agricultural Research Service studies are believed to have cost taxpayers $650,000 per year from 2003 to 2015.
The USDA denied buying live animals but did admit to procuring “specimens” from such markets. A spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner the agency “only purchased feline specimens that were slaughtered by Chinese market vendors for food in accordance with People’s Republic of China laws.” The department also disputed the timeline of the purchases, insisting its last purchase from a Chinese market was in 2006.
Wet markets in China have come under recent scrutiny after the one in Wuhan was tied to early cases of COVID-19. Earlier this month, dozens of members of Congress called for a global ban on the markets, which have reportedly reopened in China. Ernst, Braun, Manchin, and Merkley hope to ensure that taxpayer money is never spent at these markets “ever again.”
“As a businessman who created hundreds of American jobs, I specifically limited my business with China because you can’t trust the Communist Party of China. That’s why I believe that we should not be using American taxpayer dollars to fund Chinese wet markets,” Braun explained.
“We applaud Sens. Joni Ernst, Jeff Merkley, Mike Braun, and Joe Manchin for their outstanding leadership to ensure that government employees don’t ever go on another taxpayer-funded shopping spree for cats, dogs, or any other animals at China’s filthy, dangerous wet markets,” Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at White Coat Waste Project, said. “The government never should have spent taxpayer dollars at China’s wet markets, and this bill will make sure it never does again.”
The legislation does not include a ban on funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating as a possible source of the novel coronavirus outbreak, despite reports that it has been authorized to receive U.S. tax dollars for animal experiments. Ernst signed a bicameral letter on Tuesday, urging congressional leadership against allowing federal funds to be directed to the laboratory.
