Sen. Rand Paul Unveils New Legislation to Fire Fauci and Divide the NIH, Calls Him “Dictator-in-Chief”, Then RINOs Vote Against the Amendment

On Monday, Senator Rand Paul (R, KY) unveiled an amendment that would eliminate the position held currently by Dr. Anthony Fauci. The amendment would break down the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID,) which Fauci leads presently, into three parts.

Senator Paul stated that “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;” adding that “no one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans.”

“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.”

Explaining his plan in an op-ed for Fox News, Senator Paul wrote, “To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I will introduce an 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.”

These new Institutes, the National Institute of Allergic Diseases, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of Immunologic Diseases, would each have a separate director who would each be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term. This division of power and responsibility would, according to Senator Paul, hopefully, prevent “‘the science’ [from being] dictated by one man, an unelected bureaucrat with far too much power.”

The amendment was defeated Tuesday when all Senate Democrats, and six Republicans, voted against its inclusion.

 This is the latest development in a long-running feud between Senator Paul and Dr. Fauci, which began in 2020 over policy disagreements regarding the federal response to the pandemic. Last January, Dr. Fauci and Senator Paul clashed in a hearing where Fauci said the Senator was “coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality.” Senator Paul told the Cincinnati Enquirer at a fundraiser a few days later that “”If we do win, we take over the Senate. We will do everything we can to remove [Fauci] from office. We think he’s a menace. We think he’s lied to Congress.”