Stuart, Fla. – U.S. Congressman Brian Mast (FL-18) today introduced legislation to hold China accountable for its coronavirus deception. The resolution would empower the United States to withhold payments on debts owed to China equal to the costs incurred by the United States in response to COVID-19, including several trillion dollars in spending authorized by Congress in response to the pandemic.

“China’s total lack of transparency and mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak has cost tens of thousands of lives, millions of jobs and left untold economic destruction,” Rep. Mast said. “Congress must hold China accountable for their cover-up and force them to pay back the taxpayer dollars that have been spent as a result.”

Outbreak Timeline:

• November 17, 2019 – First confirmed case of COVID-19
• December 8, 2019 – First human-to-human transmission of the disease recorded by doctors in Wuhan, China
• December 31, 2019 – Wuhan Municipal Health Commission informs the World Health Organization (WHO) of the outbreak after weeks of delay
• January 3, 2020 – China’s National Health Commission (NHC) ordered institutions ‘‘not to publish any information related to the unknown disease’’ and ordered labs to ‘‘transfer any samples they had to designated testing institutions or to destroy them’’
• January 23, 2020 – Chinese authorities begin taking steps to lockdown the city of Wuhan more than two months after the first reported case of Coronavirus

The resolution is attached.

###