The United States House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, formerly the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, was a bipartisan United States House of Representatives select subcommittee that was created to provide congressional oversight of the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The Select Subcommittee was established under H.Res.935 during the 116th Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on April 2, 2020, that the committee would oversee the $2.2 trillion economic stimulus/rescue legislation (the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) enacted by Congress. The Act created a $500 billion bailout fund for U.S. industry and is the largest economic emergency legislation in U.S. history.Billy House & Erik Wasson, Pelosi Announces Bipartisan House Committee on Coronavirus, Bloomberg (April 2, 2020).Erica Werner & Paul Kane, Pelosi announces new select committee to oversee coronavirus response, Washington Post (April 2, 2020).Clare Foran, Haley Byrd & Manu Raju, Pelosi announces House committee on coronavirus crisis to exercise oversight of pandemic response, CNN (April 2, 2020). It was established as a special investigatory subcommittee under the House Oversight Committee.

Pelosi stated in her announcement that the committee would be chaired by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, aided by a staff of experts, and it would have subpoena power and a $2,000,000 budget. Pelosi charged the committee with preventing waste, profiteering,House Speaker Weekly Briefing via Conference Call, C-SPAN (April 2, 2020). and price gouging, and seeking to ensure that responses to the pandemic are based on science. She described the committee as a mechanism for an after-action review.

The committee's mandate is analogous to that of the Truman Committee in the 1940s, which investigated waste and fraud in defense spending.

On April 23, 2020, the House officially voted 212–182 along party lines, to approve the committee's creation.

After Republicans gained a majority of the House of Representatives at the start of the 118th Congress, the House voted to continue the committee, now dubbed Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, was approved as part of the House's rules package on January 9, 2023, by a 220–213 vote. The purpose of the committee was changed to investigate the origins of COVID-19, gain-of-function research, coronavirus-related government spending, and mask and vaccine mandates.

On January 24, 2023, Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that the subcommittee would be chaired by Representative Brad Wenstrup.

The committee released its final report on December 2, 2024. In the 520-page report, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic concludes that the coronavirus "most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China," citing factors like biological characteristics of the virus and illnesses among researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in fall 2019. The subcommittee was dissolved by Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer at the end of the 118th Congress.

The report also concludes that social distancing and mask mandates were not based on hard science and "prolonged lockdowns caused immeasurable harm to not only the American economy, but also to the mental and physical health of Americans, with a particularly negative effect on younger citizens."

Members, 118th Congress

+MajorityMinority Brad Wenstrup, Ohio, Chair Nicole Malliotakis, New York Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Debbie Lesko, Arizona Michael Cloud, Texas John Joyce, Pennsylvania Ronny Jackson, Texas Rich McCormick, Georgia Raul Ruiz, California, Ranking Member Debbie Dingell, Michigan Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Deborah Ross, North Carolina Robert Garcia, California Ami Bera, California Jill Tokuda, Hawaii Ex officio James Comer, Kentucky Jamie Raskin, Maryland

Historical membership rosters 117th Congress +Members from the 117th CongressMajorityMinority Jim Clyburn, South Carolina, Chair Maxine Waters, California Carolyn Maloney, New York Nydia Velázquez, New York Bill Foster, Illinois Jamie Raskin, Maryland Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Steve Scalise, Louisiana, Ranking Member Jim Jordan, Ohio Mark Green, Tennessee Nicole Malliotakis, New York Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa

See also COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery

References

External links

U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, "After Action Review of the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward", December 4, 2024