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tailored to its newly stated concerns, arranging for a bipartisan briefing that allowed committee staff to hear directly from Dr. Moss and ask questions regarding his mpox research, as well as hear from senior NIH officials who oversee NIH’s intramural research program and high containment laboratories.[1] During the briefing, majority staff used effectively all its time on one line of narrow questioning directed only at Dr. Moss regarding a September 2022 Science article—the same article that Dr. Moss already told the committee had mischaracterized his stage of thinking about potential future mpox research.[2]
The Department believes these accommodations appropriately addressed the committee’s shifting slate of stated concerns regarding this matter. Your October 20 letter, however, appears to shift the premise of your inquiry yet again—inserting wholly new document requests and materially changing your scope, all while failing to give due consideration to the significant accommodations the Department has provided the committee to date. On top of that, the committee is now threatening to resort to compulsory process if the requested documents are not produced by the committee’s dictated deadline—despite the fact that the Department has consistently engaged with the committee in good faith and provided appropriate accommodations tailored to your stated concerns.
Your current approach is particularly troubling given that the committee has now threatened to use compulsory process in at least six different matters involving the Department over the last month alone—materially frustrating the Department’s ability to identify your priorities and continue to respond to your various requests, which currently include a significant number of requests for transcribed interviews with senior NIH officials and voluminous document requests, all of which the Department is actively working to address. This reflexive threat to issue compulsory process is inconsistent with the constitutionally mandated accommodation process and a disservice to both the committee and the Department.
NIH and the Department intend to continue cooperating with the committee voluntarily in this matter, in good faith, and consistent with the accommodation process. To that end, enclosed with this letter is an initial production of materials. As we have conveyed to your staff, we welcome a discussion regarding the prioritization of your various requests.
If you or your staff have any questions, please feel free to contact the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislation at (202) 690-7627.
Sincerely,
A personal signature appears here
Melanie Anne Egorin, PhD
Assistant Secretary for Legislation.
cc: The Honorable Frank Pallone, Jr., Ranking Member
- ↑ July 25, 2023, letter to Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Assistant Secretary for Legislation Melanie Anne Egorin.
- ↑ See June 30, 2023, letter to Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Dr. Bernard Moss, NIH Distinguished Investigator, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, NIAID.
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