Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is leading a group of Republicans in introducing new legislation that will temporarily halt federal research grants from going to universities and other organizations that are conducting “risky research on potential pandemic pathogens.” In a press release announcing the new legislation on Oct. 19, Marshall said the bill, known as the Viral Gain of Function Research Moratorium Act, was being brought forward in response to findings from congressional inquiries and media investigations into such research. Marshall said such probes had revealed national security issues, including federal agencies authorizing “dangerous research” with certain countries that “may have contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.” “It’s outrageous that a comprehensive global investigation on the origins of COVID-19 has still not been carried out, and with mounting evidence pointing towards the labs in Wuhan, additional guardrails on gain-of-function research must be established to make sure nothing like this ever happens again,” said Marshall. “For the last decade, …