Dr. Anthony Fauci must answer to reports about funding being funneled through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that ended up being spent on extreme forms of research on beagles in a Tunisian lab, Rep. Daniel Webster said Thursday on Newsmax.
"I'm a strong supporter of medical research, but I'm also a strong opponent of animal cruelty, and I think that's not a mutually exclusive idea," the Florida Republican told Newsmax's "National Report." "There are a lot of things they're doing to these dogs [that] don't have to be done. Even the FDA backs that up."
Fauci has come under fire after a report by the White Coat Waste Project, generated through a Freedom of Information Act request with the NIAID, which Fauci heads, revealed funding that was spent on canine experiments.
The documents show that the otherwise healthy dogs had been treated with an experimental medication before they were subjected to being bitten by flies infected with a parasite known to be contagious to humans. The dogs' vocal cords were cut so their barking would not interfere in the study, the report indicated.
Webster said Fauci is no longer trusted by "all kinds of people," both public figures and private, but he continues on "from pride or power politics."
The congressman also commented on the Democrats' reconciliation spending bill, which has been dropping in price from $3.5 trillion down to $1.75 trillion or lower as negotiations continue.
"It's not my food fight," he said before President Joe Biden outlined the bill's framework Thursday. "It's among the Democrats. But what I hear them saying is where's the bill ... the framework has been around for months. But there's no language to go with it. Nothing to read.
"I think that's the real problem, and there are a lot of people who are expressing that on the other side of the aisle."
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