Forty-nine Republican Senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to end his support for two international health agreements, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Pandemic Agreement” and proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR).
The senators said the WHO agreement would give the organization “authority to declare public health emergencies of international concern and expand the WHO’s authority over member states during such emergencies.”
“This is unacceptable,” the senators stated.
“The WHO’s failure during the COVID-19 pandemic was as total as it was predictable and did lasting harm to our country,” the letter continues. “The United States cannot afford to ignore this latest WHO inability to perform its most basic function and must insist on comprehensive WHO reforms before even considering amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) or any new pandemic related treaty that would increase WHO authority.”
According to the senators, “Article 55 of the IHR requires the text of any IHR amendment to be communicated to member states at least four months before the WHA [World Health Assembly],” although the WHO has not provided the final amendment to member states.
Because this rule has not been upheld, “Amendments are not in order,” the senators assert.
“We strongly urge you not to join any pandemic related treaty, convention, or agreement being considered at the Seventy-seventh WHA,” the congressional members wrote. “Should you ignore this advice, we state in the strongest possible terms that we consider any such agreement to be a treaty requiring the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate under Article II Section 2 of the Consitution.”
According to a December 30, 2023 fact sheet, the Biden administration views “global health security partnerships” as “critical component[s] of national biodefense.”
“The United States partners with countries around the world to build stronger global health security capacity – the ability to prevent, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from new and emerging public health threats and prevent their spread across borders. Partnering with countries to stop infectious disease threats at their source, including by strengthening equitable health systems in their own countries and across regions, effectively protects the health of Americans and people across the world.”
Last year, Donald Trump called the WHO a “corrupt globalist scam.”
“The World Health Organization has become nothing more than a corrupt globalist scam paid for by the United States but owned and controlled by China,” Trump said. “When the China virus reached our shores three years ago, the World Health Organization disgracefully covered the tracks of the Chinese Communist Party — every single step of the way. For this reason, it was my great honor to terminate America’s relationship with the World Health Organization.”
“Unfortunately, crooked Joe Biden foolishly re-entered the World Health Organization at the full price and without any negotiations or reforms,” he added. “And now Biden is pushing to bypass the United States Senate to enter a pandemic treaty that would surrender American sovereignty to the World Health Organization. Again, controlled by China.”
