The Republican Party in the US used its slim majority in the House of Representatives to set up a new subcommittee. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is set to scrutinize the US government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. "The elected representatives will finally have answers about the origins of Covid and the government's gain-of-function research that contributed to the pandemic," newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed on Twitter.

Gain-of-function research (GOF) refers to experiments in which pathogens are given new functionalities in the laboratory, which happens all the time in nature through mutations. The GOF is used by science for the early detection and assessment of hazards under controlled laboratory conditions. Since Chinese and American researchers conducted GOF experiments on coronaviruses in 2019, the theory arose that the virus might have originated in a laboratory. Although this thesis is considered rather improbable by many scientists, it cannot be completely refuted.

One can look forward to the answers announced by McCarthy. Because - in line with his suggestion that the US government is partly to blame for the corona pandemic - the top Republican in the House of Representatives has appointed some of the biggest corona deniers and conspiracy theorists in his party to the Covid Committee, above all Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In May 2021, the member of parliament from Georgia equated the order to wear a mask in the plenary hall of the House of Representatives with the obligation to wear a Jewish star in the Third Reich. She had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines for violating the Chamber of Congress' Covid regulations. The 48-year-old also spread conspiracy theories that the corona virus is a bioweapon made by China. And she called for the incarceration of immunologist Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the White House during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Greene's repeated posting of false information about Covid-19 has resulted in her being suspended from her Twitter accounts multiple times. As in July 2021, when she claimed that Covid-19 is not dangerous unless you are obese or older than 65. A month later, she was banned again for falsely claiming that coronavirus vaccines "failed". Finally, in January 2022, the short message service imposed a permanent blockade after Green mistakenly tweeted about "extremely high numbers of Covid vaccine deaths." The ban was lifted by new Twitter owner Elon Musk in November.

MP Ronny Jackson will also sit on the Covid-19 committee. In July 2020, during the early and most dangerous phase of the pandemic, Jackson described wearing a respirator as "a personal choice". At the time, his statements contradicted not only the recommendations of health experts, but also the mask-wearing requirement in his state of Texas.

Then, when the Omicron variant emerged, Jackson claimed in November 2021 that the mutation was a hoax by the Democratic Party to justify more liberal rules on mail-in voting. "Democrats will do anything to cheat during an election - but we won't let them!" he tweeted. The representative of the people thus reproduced a right-wing conspiracy story according to which President Joe Biden and the health authorities only wanted to improve the electoral chances of the Democrats with their protective measures.

After his appointment to the Corona Committee, Jackson made it clear what he intends to do there: "I am proud to announce that I have been selected to serve on the subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic. Every lie that Fauci has told us will be exposed . Every lie about the vaccine will be exposed. Every lie used for your lockdown will be exposed. We will uncover the truth!" he tweeted.

Other nominees for the subcommittee include:

After taking over the House of Representatives, the Republicans announced that they would launch investigations into the policies of President Biden and his government and the actions of federal agencies such as the FBI at numerous levels. The establishment of the Subcommittee on the Corona Pandemic is a step in this direction. And its occupation with Corona deniers and conspiracy ideologues promises troubled times for the Democrats.

Sources: Kevin McCarthy on Twitter, Ronny Jackson on Twitter, German Bundestag Research Service, Seattle Times, Hufffington Post, Rolling Stone Magazine