Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) introduced the Stop COVID Act on Friday, which would allow the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the origins of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.

Gooden’s legislation, the Stop China-Originated Viral Infectious Disease (COVID) Act of 2020, would amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to allow the DOJ to investigate the coronavirus pandemic and allow the DOJ to file claims against the Chinese Communist Party in the United States.

“The American people want to know where this virus came from and who is responsible for it, but our laws shield the Chinese Communist Party from legal action,” Gooden told Breitbart News in an exclusive comment.

“The Stop COVID Act will give our Justice Department the authority it needs to shed light on this pandemic,” he added.

The FSIA restricts the American government from filing against a foreign nation in the federal court system. The STOP COVID Act would amend to create an exception if a foreign nation were found guilty of manufacturing a bioweapon to use against Americans.

Gooden’s legislation follows as lawmakers have increasingly called for retribution due to China’s failure to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

China experts such as Steven Mosher have told Breitbart News Tonight the coronavirus outbreak relates to a biological weapons laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Mosher suggested the “most likely scenario” for the coronavirus outbreak is that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan. He explained:

They were doing research on dangerous coronaviruses in the lab, and it got out of the lab. How did it get out of the lab? Well, this is interesting, too, because you might think that the most likely scenario is a researcher in the lab was careless and got some of the virus on his clothing or actually got infected with the disease then went out into public and infected the public, but there’s another vector. And the other vector is this: that sometimes in China researchers who are buying expensive lab animals, after they get done researching the lab animals, maybe infecting them with coronavirus, they then, if the lab animals are still alive, they then take them to make a little extra money and sell them at the local fresh meat market where they are slaughtered and wind up in someone’s stomach.

Gooden said in a statement on Friday that his legislation would hold China accountable if it reveals the country is responsible for the global pandemic.

“China currently enjoys immunity from U.S. litigation, even if it becomes known that China manufactured this deadly virus,” Gooden said. “The Stop COVID Act will give our legal system the power to investigate the origin of the virus and, if found guilty hold accountable those responsible for creating and releasing it.”

Read the Stop COVID Act here.