Two Republican senators are urging President Biden to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) due to the organization’s abject lack of competence during the coronavirus outbreak.
Sens. Steve Daines (R-Montana) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote to Biden on Friday, arguing that the United States must quit the corrupt and inefficient organization because of its failings during the coronavirus outbreak. WHO is a United Nations specialized organization in charge of international public health.
Senators oppose the Biden administration’s proposal to support revisions to the International Health Regulations (IHR) beginning Jan. 18, which they claim will give the WHO more power at the expense of the United States and its allies.
The WHO has displayed an abject lack of competence throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, the senators write, destroying the organization’s reputation and undermining public trust.
They point to the WHO’s misleading declaration in January 2020 that the COVID-19 virus was not propagated via human-to-human transmission, as well as the WHO director general’s admiration for China’s pandemic response.
Daines and Cotton are requesting that the president remove the United States from the corrupt organization, as well as withdraw planned IHR modifications.
“These proposed policies threaten to erode America’s sovereign power to address public health emergencies as we see fit,” the senators write. “The WHO cannot be trusted to properly exercise its current powers; it cannot be trusted with more power.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the letter, but a person familiar with the situation said the government supports science.
Over the previous two years, members of Congress have criticized the WHO. Lawmakers have branded the group a stooge of the Chinese Communist Party, accusing WHO of concealing COVID-19’s roots.
Last month, House Republicans intensified their probe into COVID-19’s origins by sending a new series of letters to the Biden administration and scientists, requesting openness and accountability.
