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The Biden administration’s incompetence and failure to follow the law has caused a potential legal crisis, as $25 billion worth of taxpayer-funded grants are now in jeopardy. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) has written a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to raise “serious concerns” about his inability to “follow the law and ensure accountability for billions of dollars in taxpayer funding at the National Institute of Health (NIH).”

Apparently, Becerra and the Biden HHS “did not reappoint a number of Institute and Center (IC) Directors at the NIH,” including Dr. Anthony Fauci and more than one dozen others, thus creating a potentially disastrous situation. The directors’ terms ended on December 12, 2021, and despite being required to by a provision in the 21st Century Cares Act, Becerra did not appoint or reappoint the NIH IC Directors on December 13, 2021.

Adding to the controversy, “HHS and the NIH repeatedly assured the Committee that the NIH IC Directors were validly reappointed but did not produce proper supporting documentation,” implying that the Biden administration officials misled Congress about the agency’s failure to do its duties as required by law. As the investigation continued, they discovered that “the NIH handled the reappointments as an internal matter signed by an NIH human resources director” whose name was surreptitiously redacted by HHS. Only after multiple investigative letters and extensive discussion with the Committee did Becerra finally attempt to reappoint these NIH IC Directors in a series of signed appointment affidavits issued on June 8 and 15, 2023.

According to the committee, the Biden administration’s “failure to reappoint the above NIH IC Directors jeopardizes the legal validity of more than $25 billion in federal biomedical research grants made in 2022 alone.” This is unacceptable, and the administration’s inability to follow the law is a gross dereliction of duty and an assault on taxpayers’ trust and safety.

Moreover, Dr. Fauci was among those who served for months without lawful valid authority, raising additional questions about his role in the Biden administration and its response to COVID-19. The Energy and Commerce Committee’s letter slammed Secretary Becerra for “not complying with your oath to faithfully discharge the duties of your office. That HHS and the NIH spent 15 months obstructing the Committee to cover up your failure only makes matters worse,” it added.

The committee intends “to get a full accounting of who at HHS and the NIH decided to mislead the Committee and why” while noting the entities’ “bad faith and failure to follow the law in this matter epitomizes why Americans no longer trust federal public health agencies.” It is grossly unfair that Dr. Fauci – who unlawfully held his position after December 13, 2021 – could use his authority to push authoritarian mandates on the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Overall the Biden administration’s actions are a gross display of overreach and insufficiency. Americans must demand greater accountability from those entrusted with their money and safety.