GOP Senators Call on Biden to Withdraw Support for Extending WHO Powers

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A group of Republican US Senators is “strongly” urging the federal government to reverse its support for proposed amendments to the pandemic-related International Health Regulations (IHR) treaty on the grounds these amendments would undermine America’s sovereignty to declare and manage its own health emergencies, CBN News reports. The proposals will be considered by the World Health Assembly being held in Geneva, Switzerland between 27 May – 1 June 2024.

In a May 1 letter to US President Joe Biden, the Senators assert that some of the 300 proposals for amendments to the IHR treaty constitute “intolerable infringements on US authority.” The proposals would allow the WHO to declare a health emergency in the United States, and force the US government to report to an international ‘Compliance Committee’ on whether it was following WHO directives, CBN News reports.

Granting such power to the WHO is unwarranted, the senators contend, because: “The WHO’s failure during the COVID-19 pandemic was as total as it was predictable and did lasting harm to our country.”

“The United States cannot afford to ignore the 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 pandemic-related treaty that would increase WHO authority,” the Senators warn.

“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 Constitution,” the letter attests.The coalition of Senators includes Tom Cotton, Susan Collins, and Bill Cassidy among 28 others.

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