Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst on Newsmax Monday railed at the Biden administration's renewed funding of a U.S.-based research organization that collaborates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
In an interview on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Ernst vowed, "I will not let this go," referring to a grant reinstatement to EcoHealth Alliance by the National Institutes of Health.
In April 2020, after former President Donald Trump suggested SARS-CoV-2 originated in the Wuhan lab, the NIH terminated EcoHealth's grant.
"We saw the Biden administration last week continue to provide funding for EcoHealth Alliance, which was tied to the Wuhan lab in China doing coronavirus experiments," Ernst said. "No more taxpayer dollars should be going to EcoHealth Alliance through NIH. It's got to stop if we wish to prevent a future pandemic."
Ernst also lauded the visit last week in Iowa from Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, and asserted "Iowans are fired up" about the 2024 presidential election.
"All you had to do was look around the room, and people were so excited to be able to host Gov. DeSantis in Iowa," she said. "We're seeing many other candidates coming in as well, and we'll see many of them" on her June 3 event "Roast and Ride" event in Des Moines.
"We'll have a lot of those presidential candidates taking the stage there," she said, mentioning contenders Nikki Haley, DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former Vice President Mike Pence.
"We're just excited to welcome all of them in, and they are firing up the crowds because we've seen the disasters in the Biden administration," she said. "People want to change, and this is Iowa's chance to really jump onboard with a candidate and support them wholeheartedly in the Iowa caucuses."
Ernst said she hasn't yet made an endorsement in the GOP race.
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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