Rand Paul To Get New Position In Senate After GOP Takeover
Republicans celebrated a landmark election victory, securing the presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives. This shift paves the way for prominent lawmakers to take on influential roles, including Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who will chair the Homeland Security Committee starting in January, according to The New York Post.
In an exclusive interview with The Post, Senator Paul outlined his primary focus: uncovering what he described as the “COVID cover-up.”
“I chose to chair this committee over another because I believe that, for the health of our republic, Congress must stand up once again for its constitutional role,” Paul explained. “This committee’s mission of oversight and investigations is critical to Congress reasserting itself.”
Paul expressed confidence that the upcoming term could reveal significant details about the pandemic. “I think we’re on the cusp of, really, the beginning of uncovering what happened with COVID,” he stated.
He expressed hope for cooperation from federal agencies under a new administration. “We are going to, hopefully, have a friendlier administration, and we’re hoping that there will be a friendly person at [the Department of Health and Human Services], and we’re hoping they’ll be friendly at [the National Institutes of Health],” he said.
A legislative priority for Paul is the passage of the Risky Research Review Act, which aims to halt funding for projects such as gain-of-function research.
“The biggest item of the COVID coverup is that for years, we’ve known there is this dangerous research,” he said. “The idea that the government would pre-emptively be telling people not to publish things, to me, is horrendous.”
In addition to pandemic-related issues, the senator plans to revisit immigration policies, particularly the Trump administration's “Remain in Mexico” policy. The policy required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while awaiting the resolution of their cases.
“Most people don’t understand, myself included, why, if you’re illegally coming across a river in a boat or walking, you’re not just deposited back on the other side?” Paul questioned. “You’re breaking the law.”
Above all, Paul emphasized his commitment to transparency. “We’re just scratching at the tip of the iceberg,” he noted. “Most of the [documents] we’ve been trying to get so far are non-classified. You can imagine what may be happening in our government or other governments.”
This mission aligns with Paul’s ongoing scrutiny of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In July 2023, Paul referred Fauci to the Department of Justice for allegedly lying to Congress about NIH’s involvement in funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
“I’ve referred Anthony Fauci to the DOJ (again) for lying to Congress when he denied the NIH was funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan,” Paul wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The senator referenced recent evidence to support his claims. “Last week’s release of an email in which Fauci confirms that research in Wuhan was gain-of-function adds to an email where his assistants label it GoF as well. Likely nothing more conclusive than catching a liar lying with his own words!” he added.
The Daily Mail reported that emails released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic detailed concerns raised during a conference call attended by Fauci, Dr. Francis Collins, and other researchers.
In one email, Fauci acknowledged that some scientists were worried COVID-19 might have been genetically engineered, particularly given that gain-of-function research had been conducted in Wuhan before the pandemic.
Gain-of-function research involves altering viruses to increase their lethality or transmissibility to anticipate and address potential natural mutations.
Paul’s new role as Homeland Security Committee chair signals a determined push to investigate these issues and others, potentially reshaping public understanding of government actions during the pandemic.