Federal government continues to send millions to China for research without informing Congress

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the message should be clear to Washington: Stop funding risky and secretive research projects in China with our tax dollars.

Despite this lesson, the federal government continues to allocate undisclosed amounts of money to China and other adversarial countries, concealing the details of these questionable projects and admitting that a full account of the funding cannot be provided.

For instance, a recent report from the Department of Defense Inspector General revealed that the Pentagon covertly paid a Chinese biotech company up to $6.5 million for dangerous research on deadly diseases.

Concerns have been raised about this pharmaceutical firm potentially assisting with the genocide of ethnic minorities in China, and the potential national security risks posed by its work.

The project involves lethal pathogens such as Ebola and COVID-19, yet the specifics remain shrouded in secrecy.

One such company, WuXi App Tec, has received additional funding from the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, raising questions about the true extent of government payments to the firm.

How many other companies like WuXi are receiving federal funds, from which agencies, and at what potential costs and risks to Americans?

The Government Accountability Office found that Chinese institutions received at least $29 million directly from the Department of Defense, NIH, and other agencies between 2015 and 2021, with additional federal funding potentially funneled through intermediaries. The full extent of these expenditures remains unknown due to lack of tracking.

WuXi’s ties to the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party have prompted bipartisan efforts in Congress to ban the company from conducting business with the US government and from receiving taxpayer funds.

While some branches of government seek to impose bans, others continue business as usual, with insufficient transparency regarding the amounts of taxpayer money allocated to China.

Further investigations have revealed significant funds being sent to entities in China, raising concerns about the lack of oversight and accountability in these transactions.

Americans deserve transparency and accountability in public spending, especially when it comes to potentially risky and secretive dealings with adversarial nations like China. Legislation such as the TRACKS Act has been proposed to promote greater transparency and public oversight of government funding to such countries.

It is imperative for Washington to be transparent about public spending, and taxpayers should have the right to know where their money is going. If the government can dedicate resources to auditing taxpayers, the same diligence should be applied to tracking government spending, whether domestic or foreign.

Joni Ernst represents Iowa in the US Senate. Adam Andrzejewski is the CEO and founder of OpenTheBooks.com, the largest private database of public spending.