The Senate on Wednesday unanimously voted in favor of a bill mandating that the Biden administration declassify intelligence materials involving the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republican Sens. Mike Braun, Ind., and Josh Hawley, Mo., reintroduced the measure following a report from the Department of Energy concluding that the virus was likely the result of a lab leak, the Epoch Times reported.
Hawley celebrated the measure's passage in a Tweet, saying "Tonight the Senate UNANIMOUSLY passed my bill to declassify all the intelligence the government has on #covid origins. Let the people see the truth!"
Formerly maligned as a conspiracy, the notion that the virus spread by way of a leak has increasingly gained traction among major federal agencies, including the DOE and FBI.
The COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 specifically seeks information relevant to the notion that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan, the pandemic's ground zero. The Wuhan Institute of Virology was known to be studying coronaviruses prior to the outbreak.
The bill now will head to the House of Representatives and a Republican majority that is likely to embrace it.
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