FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 14, 2022
Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator and physician Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced an amendment to eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and replace it with three separate national research institutes.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past two years, but one lesson in particular is that no one person should be deemed “dictator-in-chief.” No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,” said Dr. Paul. “To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I’ve introduced this amendment to eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and divide his power into three separate new institutes. This will create accountability and oversight into a taxpayer funded position that has largely abused its power, and has been responsible for many failures and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Background:
As recently as 2012, Congress passed a law that eliminated the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and reassigned some of its programs to a new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and assigned other NCRR functions to other institutes within NIH.
Dr. Paul’s amendment would keep with this precedent of reorganization, and would immediately eliminate Dr. Fauci’s position and replace it with three new directors of the following new institutes:
- National Institute of Allergic Diseases
- National Institute of Infectious Diseases
- National Institute of Immunologic Diseases
Each of these three institutes will be led by a director who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a 5-year term.
This amendment also aligns with NIAID’s existing mission statement, which begins by saying: “NIAID conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.”
You can read Dr. Paul’s amendment HERE.
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