The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday accused the Biden administration of potentially breaking the law by not properly reappointing former White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci and other top officials within the National Institutes of Health.
But the Department of Health and Human Services vigorously rejected the accusations, calling them political and inaccurate.
The allegations mark an escalation in lawmakers’ attacks on Fauci — who retired from his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the end of last year — and the NIH in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fight over whether risky research helped create the virus. The allegations also call into question around $25 billion in medical research grants awarded by the agency in the past 18 months.
