Sen. Rand Paul on Monday introduced legislation that would eliminate the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) position, which is held by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“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,’ ” the Kentucky Republican said. “No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans.”
The legislation came up for a vote on Tuesday. Six Republican senators voted against it.
They are: Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Jerry Moran of Kansas.
Paul said the legislation would "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.”
Fauci had previously asserted, in an interview on “CBS This Morning”, that Republicans — and former President Donald Trump — have a “misplaced perception about people’s individual right to make a decision that supersedes the societal safety.” Paul said that Fauci's comments showed a “casual disregard for what this country was founded upon.”
“He just wants you to listen to his authority,” Paul told The Daily Signal. “He has the authority. He wants people to listen and not question him, but that’s sort of a recipe for authoritarianism, so I greatly object to him.”
Paul said he would launch an investigation into Fauci’s conduct should Republicans take back Congress in the 2022 midterms.
“I’ll lead at least one committee, and we will use subpoena power to bring him in,” he said in November. “We’ll use subpoena power to bring in his documents and we will get to the bottom of this. We will get to the bottom of where the virus started. We will subpoena all the information.”
Also on Tuesday, the Senate passed a resolution, led by Paul, to repeal the mask mandate for public transportation. Romney was the only Republican to vote against it.
Fauci on March 17 warned that if there is a rise in cases from the so-called BA.2 variant, America will have to go back to COVID restrictions, including mask mandates.
NEW: Fauci warns it may be "necessary" to "re-institute" restrictions, such as forced masking pic.twitter.com/IeeA0iayGn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 17, 2022
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