Ranking Member Ruiz’s Opening Statement at Select Subcommittee Hearing with Dr. David Morens

Washington, D.C. (May 22, 2024)—Below is Ranking Member Raul Ruiz, M.D.’s opening statement, as prepared for delivery, at today’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing with Dr. David Morens, who is currently on administrative leave from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Opening Statement
Ranking Member Raul Ruiz, M.D.
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
“A Hearing with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Senior Scientific Advisor, Dr. David Morens”
May 22, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

For decades, our federal public health and scientific institutions have diligently upheld a legacy of respect and decorum in their work to advance the public interest. 

And within these institutions, thousands of federal employees have reported to work every day with the goal of promoting our scientific enterprise and ensuring that every American can lead the healthiest life possible. 

As an emergency physician and public health expert, I hold the legacy of scientific advancement to safeguard human health in the highest regard.

And through my tenure in Congress, including as a Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, I have championed legislation to invest in our federal scientific and public health workforce so that they can carry forward this crucial work.

But there are times when individuals stray from this legacy and conduct themselves in a manner that is unbecoming of the thousands who strive to uphold the respect and decency that has come to be known of our federal scientific and public health workforce.

And today, we will be hearing from one of these individuals.

Dr. Morens, for nearly a year, the Select Subcommittee has been reviewing your conduct.

And what we have found is deeply troubling to me.

In internal documents you produced to the Select Subcommittee, you, on multiple occasions, alluded to the deletion of official emails—an act that likely constitutes the destruction of federal records.

And frequently you blurred the line between your official duties and your personal viewpoints, including by communicating about official business on your personal email address with individuals who have pending interests before your agency, and by representing yourself as a federal official in the signature of your personal email correspondence.

And while it is not a violation of the law to do so, you disparaged other members of the scientific community with language that is unbecoming of a representative of the federal government.

What troubles me most about your conduct, Dr. Morens, is the extent to which it so willingly betrays decades of dedication, diligence, and decorum from the thousands of federal scientists and public health workers who came before you, who have served alongside you, and who will serve on into the future. 

And that is why appropriate accountability for your actions is important.

It is not anti-science to hold you accountable for defying the public’s trust and misusing official resources.

To the contrary, taking your misconduct seriously is about ensuring that Americans—myself included—can continue to expect the highest degree of professionalism from our premier scientific institutions, as we have since their inception.

Now, with all that in mind, I want to take a moment to make sure the record is clear on one thing at the outset of this hearing.

While accountability for instances of misconduct is essential to ensuring the public’s continued trust in our federal institutions and their use of taxpayer dollars, Dr. Morens’s testimony today is not a breakthrough moment in actually understanding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because the fact of the matter is that as of today, the origins of the novel coronavirus remain inconclusive.

And if the Select Subcommittee wants to actually shed a light on the answer to this question, then we will need to take an objective look at all the various pathways by which SARS-CoV-2 could have emerged—be they in a lab or in nature.

Now, before we hear from the witness, let me just conclude by saying—

It is my hope, Dr. Morens, that today, you will offer remorse for your actions—which are a stain on the legacy of your colleagues at NIAID and throughout the federal government.

At the same time, it is my hope that the members of this Select Subcommittee, while appropriately critical of your actions, will treat you with the same decency and respect that we expected of you as a federal employee and steward of the public trust.

Let us model the same behavior here today that we have come to expect of our federal workforce.

Thank you, and I yield back.