House chairman proposes 9/11 Commission-type review of coronavirus outbreak
A House committee chairman is proposing a post-9/11-style commission to provide a "full accounting" of the nation's handling of the coronavirus threat before it mushroomed into a full-blown pandemic that threatens to leave hundreds of thousands of Americans dead.
"Americans will need answers on how our government can work better to prevent a similar crisis from happening again," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. "This legislation we are introducing is the first step towards getting this done for the American people.”
The measure, co-sponsored by 14 other Democrats on the panel, would establish a 25-member commission, whose members would be selected by the chair and ranking Republican on each of 12 House committees, as well as one member selected jointly by the chair and vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee.
The panel would be given sweeping authority to conduct a comprehensive 18-month investigation to "make a full and complete accounting of the circumstances surrounding the emergence of the 2019 novel coronavirus, the Nation’s preparedness for the 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic, and the actions taken by Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments at critical junctures before and after the World Health Organization designated the 2019 novel coronavirus as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020."
The notion of a commission akin to the 9/11 panel that issued a comprehensive report on the origins of the attack, and the systemic failures that prevented its discovery, has begun to gain currency among congressional Democrats in recent days. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called for a commission in a Washington Post interview published Tuesday.
But Thompson is the first lawmaker to propose specific legislation modeling a coronavirus commission after the post-9/11 effort.
The members of the new panel would be required to have a variety of expertise, including in public health, emergency preparedness, transportation, education, economics, health care, foreign policy and election security. The proposal would also require that no more than 13 commission members hail from the same political party. The chair and vice chair of the panel — selected by fellow panelists — would also be required to hail from different political parties.
The panel would be imbued with subpoena power, an important cudgel to wrest free information from a wide range of sources, and the ability to refer anyone who doesn't comply to a U.S. attorney for potential prosecution.
