Executive
Waste of the Day: U.S. Sent Nearly $100 Million To EcoHealth Alliance
Topline: EcoHealth Alliance — the nonprofit that sent taxpayer funds to the Wuhan lab researching bat coronaviruses before the pandemic — has received $94.3 million from the U.S. government since 2008, according to Fox News.
The Department of Health and Human Services suspended funding to EcoHealth this May.
EcoHealth rakes it in
Key facts: EcoHealth received $8 million from HHS to study coronaviruses between 2014 and 2021 and sent some of the funds to labs including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A previous audit found that HHS did not properly monitor the grants. EcoHealth is accused of spending the money on gain-of-function research, which makes a virus more infectious so scientists can develop vaccines against it.
Some have theorized that a wayward gain-of-function coronavirus sample from the Wuhan lab could have started the pandemic. Former President Donald Trump at one point supported this theory and Dr. Anthony Fauci said in 2021 that the “possibility certainly exists,” but the CIA found “no direct evidence” of such an incident.
The HHS sent EcoHealth another $653,000 for coronavirus research in September 2022. Overall the U.S. has sent over $50 million to EcoHealth since the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, told Fox News.
Ebright said most of those funds came from HHS, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Funds also came from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce, according to OpenTheBooks’ review of data at USAspending.gov. The Department of the Interior awarded another $61,000 for “manatee research.”
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
The Wuhan gravy train
Background: EcoHealth Alliance’s funding of the Wuhan lab is just one piece of the $490 million the U.S. sent to China between 2017 and 2023, quantified by OpenTheBooks and Sen. Joni Ernst last year.
HHS sent $64 million to China, including $298,000 to try and get the country to clean up its research fraud.
Another $51.6 million came from the DOD, including $6 million to use Chinese software in U.S. defense programs.
Summary: More transparency and accountability is needed for the American public to understand how the pandemic began and what research our taxes are supporting.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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