Press Releases
Scalise: Why Are House Democrats Covering for the Chinese Communist Party?
Washington, DC,
June 29, 2021
Today, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria to preview Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis’ hearing to probe the origins of COVID-19. This hearing comes after Democrats on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis refused to investigate claims that the coronavirus started in a Chinese lab. Whip Scalise called out Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats for doing the Chinese Communist Party’s bidding and slammed American companies that have caved to China. In addition, Whip Scalise criticized White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for her outrageous and false claim that Republicans do not support funding police when it is Democrats who have consistently called for police to be defunded for the past year.
Click here or on the image above to watch the interview.
On House Republicans’ hearing about the origins of COVID-19:
“We've been calling for over a year now, House Republicans, for a hearing on the origin of COVID. This is a virus that has taken over 600,000 American lives, millions worldwide. And for whatever reason, it's perplexing that Speaker Pelosi refuses to have a hearing in any of the committees of jurisdiction on how this started.
"Now, clearly over the last few months, we've seen a mountain of evidence building that it actually did, in fact, start in the Wuhan lab. That was something we suggested we never claimed it, but we were getting evidence that it may have started in that lab over a year ago. And yet, Pelosi refuses to have a hearing. So finally, we said, let's have our own hearing. And we've invited a number of expert witnesses. We have some very respected doctors who have looked into this themselves for over a year.
“And again, you've seen recently with the mounting evidence with emails that point to this starting in the lab, why is Speaker Pelosi covering for China? Why doesn't she want to get to the bottom of it? All we're looking for is facts. I think today, you're going to see a lot of facts put on the table that might raise even more questions that will beg the question, why aren't Democrats participating in using their subpoena power, where we could bring it even more people who can [shed light] on this evil virus that's taken hundreds of thousands of lives in America and millions globally?"
On Democrats refusing to work with Republicans to uncover the truth about the coronavirus’ origin:
"It's just completely perplexing. It's bizarre that Speaker Pelosi would cover for China. We're not trying to point [the] finger at Democrats or even at President Biden. We're saying, 'We all know this started in China.' I know they don't even want to use that term. Now there's mounting evidence that that actually started in the Wuhan lab, whether by the way, it was intentional or accidental, we should be asking those questions. And by the way, where's the media outrage? Look, China just shut down a major news publication last week.
"What's going on? President Biden's talking about giving away our intellectual property for the vaccine to China. Why are they so in bed with China? Why are they so focused on covering up for China? As you mentioned, Andy Barr's motion to say, if they're using slave labor, let's get that out on the table too. But they will not stand up to China on any fraud. It's very bizarre. It raises very serious questions. But again, we're not going to sit back and wait for Democrats to keep covering for China. We're going to go and start asking those tough questions ourselves. We don't have subpoena power because right now we're not in the majority, but we're at least bringing in some experts that have some real relevance and background and have dug into this themselves."
On the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to coerce American businesses to carry out its agenda:
"All very valid questions. In fact, Devin Nunes is going to be one of the witnesses that's testifying. Mike McCaul, the head of our China Task Force, will be testifying as well as Cathy McMorris Rodgers and these medical doctors, some of the experts Dr. Giroir, Dr. Quay who have done really extensive background into what happened in China, especially at the Wuhan lab.
"And so, all of these questions should be [asked] by Democrats and Republicans. I don't know why it is that Democrats, especially Speaker Pelosi, continue to try to cover up for China because – in many cases – the crime is really bad here. By the way, China's covered it up from the very beginning. But the cover-up – why would Democrats in Congress be participating in trying to cover up what happened in China to start this virus? Let alone what we're seeing with these corporations, as you mentioned. But we're going to get to the bottom of it and at least start asking those questions."
On President Biden failing to stand up to China about hosting the Olympics in Beijing:
"Well, this is an opportunity where I think President Biden dropped the ball. He should have led this effort to get the world community to stand up to China on the Olympics and say, 'Let's find a different venue.' It doesn't have to be in America. There are a lot of countries that have the infrastructure [and] the athletic facilities to host an Olympics away from China. After everything that happened, for goodness sake, can he at least lead that effort? And I think he would have found a lot of friendly forces around the world that would have liked to join up and do that. But other countries can't lead that effort. That's [going to] be led by the United States. President Biden won't stand up to China on that. It's very unfortunate because I think they would have been able to have success."
On the Biden White House falsely claiming that Republicans do not support funding the police:
"The 'Defund the Police' movement was probably one of the dumbest ideas we've heard from the radical left, who, by the way, have had a litany of really radical extremists, ridiculous ideas. But 'Defund the Police' is dangerous, and it's been led by the major city Democrat mayors by President Biden himself who was appeasing that movement during the campaign. You had a lot of prominent Democrats in Congress who were openly calling for defunding the police. And guess what? A lot of these Democrat officials took them up on it and defunded their police. You could look at New York City, where there are shootouts. Go look at Chicago, where their mayor bragged about defunding the police, and how many dozens of shootings do we see in Chicago every single week because they're not even going after criminals?
"And then, you know, they're [trying to] blame it on Republicans. Maybe Jen Psaki hasn't read that bill that they passed because it's so large – trillions of dollars in borrowed money – but it's not the federal government that funds local police. It's local governments who made the decision to defund their police. They didn't come to us and say, 'Hey, can you give us the money now so we can fund them again?' They don't want to support their local police. And so that wasn't even a part of the discussion on that bill. But it is backfiring because you're seeing crime out of control.
"What's President Biden's answer, by the way? They're not enforcing local gun laws. So people that are committing these crimes with guns are breaking the law, and they're not even prosecuting them. President Biden wants to bring gun control to take guns away from law-abiding citizens when he's not even holding people accountable who actually break the law, committing a crime, shooting people in the streets, brazenly all across America. When are Democrats going to stand up to the criminals in America and support the great police who are heroes in our communities?”
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