End security funding for Dr. Fauci, Alabama Congressman Dale Strong says

End security funding for Dr. Fauci, Alabama Congressman Dale Strong says

Alabama lawmakers are taking the lead on an effort to defund security protection for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the retired director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became a household name during the COVID pandemic.

U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, a Republican from the Huntsville area, introduced a bill Thursday in Congress that would eliminate federal money being used for Fauci’s security detail. The bill so far has three co-sponsors – two of which are among Strong’s Alabama colleagues in the House: Mike Rogers and Barry Moore.

Fauci’s received his security detail after death threats were made against him and his family with the onset of the COVID pandemic in March 2020.

“Our country is $33 trillion in debt,” Strong said in a social media post. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for Dr. Fauci’s security detail, especially when Fauci was one of the highest-paid federal employees in the U.S.”

Rogers echoed Strong’s sentiments in his own social media post.

“Dr. and Mrs. Fauci reported a massive $11 million net worth last year,” Rogers said. “He has thankfully retired from his position. Why are they still receiving security on taxpayers’ dime?”

Moore, like Strong, also cited the national debt as a reason not to provide security for Fauci.

“A country that is $33 trillion in debt shouldn’t be paying for the security detail of one of our highest-paid bureaucrats who has retired,” Moore said in a social media post.

Fauci began receiving death threats soon after COVID began impacting Americans’ lives. Last year, a West Virginia man pleaded guilty to making threats against Fauci. The Department of Justice said the man used an encrypted email service threatening to harm or kill Fauci and members of his family.

The Justice Department during the Trump administration approved the security detail for Fauci in March 2020.

“You feel like you have to be aware all the time that there’s a possible danger,” Fauci’s wife, Dr. Christine Grady, told PBS in March.

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo of the University of Alabama at Birmingham has been named as Fauci’s replacement