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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The citizens of the State of Texas have the right to |
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know if wasteful government spending on taxpayer-funded |
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experiments on bats and humanized mice caused the death of over 1 |
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million Americans and over 6.6 million people worldwide; and |
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WHEREAS, The United States Congress has a duty to the |
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citizens of the State of Texas to promote the general welfare, and |
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the President of the United States has a duty to ensure that the |
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laws of the United States be faithfully executed; and |
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WHEREAS, It is well documented that pathogens contained in |
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highly secure laboratories around the world, including SARS viruses |
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in China, have breached containment with deadly consequences on |
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many occasions; and |
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WHEREAS, The U.S. National Institutes of Health has confirmed |
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that, between 2014 and 2019, it sent approximately $600,000 of |
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taxpayers' money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to collect |
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coronaviruses from wild bats and manipulate them in animal |
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experiments; and |
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WHEREAS, The U.S. State Department expressed concern in 2018 |
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about safety lapses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the |
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pandemic threat posed by its bat coronavirus experiments; and |
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WHEREAS, The National Institutes of Health has confirmed that |
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it funded gain-of-function animal experiments at the Wuhan |
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Institute of Virology that engineered bat coronaviruses to be as |
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much as 10,000 times stronger than their natural counterparts; and |
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WHEREAS, A U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor |
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and Pensions report has determined "the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 |
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that resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic was most likely the result of |
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a research-related incident"; and |
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WHEREAS, In its 2022 Annual Threat Assessment, the Office of |
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the Director of National Intelligence declares, "One Intelligence |
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Community element assesses with moderate confidence that the first |
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human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a |
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laboratory-associated incident, probably involving |
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experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan |
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Institute of Virology"; and |
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WHEREAS, A growing majority of the American public believes |
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that the COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak; now, therefore, |
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be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby call on the federal government of the United States to: |
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(1) conduct an unbiased and comprehensive investigation of |
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the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including whether it resulted |
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from a lab leak in Wuhan; |
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(2) ensure that the investigation is conducted without |
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influence by the government agencies and personnel involved in |
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funding this research; and |
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(3) issue a final report summarizing the findings of the |
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investigation, without redaction, and make the report available to |
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the citizens of the State of Texas in its entirety. |