Congressmen Guest, Palazzo sign on to letter requesting internal documents, communications related to WHO to hold Biden Admin. accountable.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) announced her support for the “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act” (S.4343), which would require the U.S. Senate to ratify any convention or agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Under the legislation, any convention or agreement resulting from the work of the WHO’s World Health Assembly intergovernmental negotiating body would be deemed a treaty and would require the advice and consent of a supermajority of the Senate. S.4343 also provides more transparency in WHO agreements and a constitutional check on the administration.
“Actions by the WHO over the past two years, particularly in terms of the pandemic and abortion, raise serious questions about whether it operates as a truly independent body that ultimately benefits the American people. I know many Mississippians are vexed that the Congress can’t act to stop some of the egregious decisions coming out of the WHO,” Senator Hyde-Smith said. “In representing the American people, the Senate should have a role in determining whether our nation should be subjected to its biased or more controversial actions.”
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) authored the bill as the WHO pushes for broad new powers under a new “international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response.”
“The WHO, along with our federal health agencies, failed miserably in its response to COVID-19. Its failure should not be rewarded with a new international treaty that would increase its power at the expense of American sovereignty,” Senator Johnson said. “What WHO does need is greater accountability and transparency. This bill makes clear to the Biden administration that any new WHO pandemic agreement must be deemed a treaty and submitted to the Senate for ratification. The sovereignty of the United States is not negotiable.”
On Tuesday, Congressmen Michael Guest (R-MS-3) and Steven Palazzo (R-MS-4) joined over 80 Republican Members in a letter to President Joe Biden requesting internal documents and communications related to the WHO in an effort to hold the Biden Administration accountable for supporting the international organization.
The Republican Members believe the U.S. should withdraw from the WHO. Absent such a withdrawal, they state that the Biden administration should at the very least work to overhaul its operations, not expand its power.
“It is clear the WHO is—and will remain—incapable of leading global responses to health emergencies… We believe that the U.S. should withdraw from the WHO. Absent such a withdrawal, your administration should at the very least work to overhaul its operations, not expand its power… In short, the WHO is not working in the interests of the American people – if it ever was. We are committed to holding your administration accountable for wasting taxpayer dollars by continuing to fund this corrupt international bureaucracy,” the Members write in their letter.
Anne Summerhays
