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FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is pushing to completely block US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO).
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, policy chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, introduced the bill Tuesday and argued that the international health body “doesn’t serve our interests and doesn’t deserve our money.”
He also attacked the current effort by WHO member countries to draft an international pandemic preparedness treaty, accusing the organization of an attempt to consolidate and foster its own influence.
“Taking money from working families struggling with the fallout from the Biden inflation crisis to send to a bunch of leftist ‘public health’ tyrants in Geneva is unacceptable,” Roy told Fox News Digital.
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), ((Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP))
“I’m sure President Trump will cut funding to the WHO, as he did last time, but this legislation will ensure that no future administration can restart it.”
At least a dozen GOP lawmakers are footing the bill.
A significant number of Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, have been critical of the WHO, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is seen outside the U.S. Capitol after the final votes before the August recess Thursday, July 25, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Trump announced that he did stop funding to the WHO during his first term in April 2020, a move that drew pushback from the American medical community, Politico reported at the time.
“Fighting a global pandemic requires international cooperation and trust in science and data,” said Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association. he said to the dam.
However, conservatives in Congress have seen the organization as a power-hungry group that did not have US interests in mind.
The United States is currently the largest contributor to the WHO, according to the World Population Review. The organization’s website indicates that 60% of its funding comes from member states.
Roy’s “No Taxpayer Funding for the World Health Organization Act” would stop all contributions to the WHO, both pledged and other voluntary funding.
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A WHO spokesman said the body was focused on maintaining its relationship with the US when contacted for comment on Roy’s bill.
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“WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in December that the new US administration has not yet taken office and that it needs time, like any new government, to As Dr. Tedros has said, WHO will do its best to cooperate with the incoming US administration to continue strengthening global health security,” the spokesperson said.
“I would like to add that the WHO-US partnership, and the contribution of the United States to global health security in general, has protected and saved millions of lives in the United States and around the world. WHO greatly values its relationship with the USA and is committed to maintaining and strengthening this.”
